F1 | The commissioners reject the Aston Martin protest: Sainz remains 7th

Carlos Sainz will maintain his position on the starting grid for the Chinese Grand Prix. The college of sports commissioners present in Shanghai rejected the complaint presented by Aston Martin, according to which the stop of Ferrari after going off the track in the Q2 session would have violated article 39.6 of the sporting regulations (“Any driver whose car stops on the track during the qualifying session will not be allowed to participate further in that session”).

The complaint was deemed admissible and was discussed in the Chinese evening. The stewards noted that Sainz's car stopped after hitting the barriers on the main straight and managed to restart 1 minute and 17 seconds later, without receiving any assistance. In the meantime, Race Direction suspended the session with a red flag, then allowing Sainz to resume the session.

The sports commissioners took note of some episodes reported by the team managers (admitted to the discussion of the case) which demonstrate how the regulation has never been applied to the letter. The FIA ​​has clarified that if a driver is able to restart independently within a reasonable time, the continuation of the session is normally permitted.

The “reasonable” time is around 30 seconds, although this varies depending on the circumstances. Team representatives reiterated that they had previously attempted to define 'the reasonable period of time' before a car is considered 'stopped', without managing to reach a definitive agreement. According to the FIA, the fundamental aspect is that a single-seater does not receive any external assistance to restart (for example from the race stewards).

Aston Martin considered the stop of 1 minute and 17 seconds too long, but past episodes were recognized (in Canada, Monaco and Baku) in which drivers had 'stopped' on the track for more than 30 seconds (and therefore would have violated the 'article 39.6) receiving permission to continue the session, without complaints from other teams. Aston Martin also argued that having the messaging system indicate the presence of a 'stationary' car constituted a breach of Article 39.6, but race management confirmed that this was the standard language used by the system itself.

Furthermore, the FIA ​​underlined that in a meeting of the Formula 1 Commission held in Spa-Belgium on 28 July last year, article 39.6 was specifically discussed, reaching the conclusion that “It was agreed to add 'external assistance' to the text to the article, a change which however was not made to the sporting regulations.

In the communication that exonerated Sainz, the FIA ​​concluded by stating: “We considered that, even if the simple wording of Article 39.6 justified a clearer conclusion, the analysis of the previous cases did not justify the annulment of the discretion exercised by the race management and the sports commissioners. We have therefore rejected the complaint.”