Frederic Vasseur (FRA) Ferrari Team Principal. 31.03.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 3, Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Practice Day.
Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has criticised the FIA for its inconsistency in dealing with penalties after Carlos Sainz was punished in the Australian Grand Prix.
Sainz was hit with a five-second time penalty for tagging Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin on the restart following a late red flag period.
With the race again being suspended and the final lap being completed behind the Safety Car, the time loss demoted Sainz out of the points.
The Spaniard was incensed with the decision to award him a penalty before he had the chance to offer his verdict to the stewards.
Vasseur has accompanied his driver in being frustrated that such a hasty settlement was made when it would not have impacted the podium procedure.
“My main frustration today is that they have taken the decision so quickly, when we know it won’t impact the podium and we don’t have a chance to discuss with the drivers which is a shame,” he said to Channel 4 after the race.
The FIA were in the spotlight two weeks ago when uproar emanated surrounding the stewards’ opting to strip Alonso of his third-place finish in Saudi Arabia.
Aston Martin had been adjudged to have started work on Alonso’s car before his original five-second penalty – for starting outside his grid slot – had been served.
Alonso’s 100th career podium was reinstated, however, once the Silverstone side launched a successful appeal against the ruling.
Vasseur has highlighted the handling of that situation in comparison to the Sainz penalty as being demonstrative that there is a fundamental inconsistency.
“He did a mega good job and now I think that you can discuss for hours the penalty, whether it was harsh or not,” he continued.
“For sure, that depending on your team the analysis will be different, but I think what is a shame for me, considering it was not impacting the podium, at least the steward, they could have listened to them and have a look on the data.
“I think this is a shame, last week we changed the regulations two times in ten minutes in the pit stop for Alonso, we could have the same today, at least to discuss.”
He added: “They took 30 laps to decide if Alonso was into the box or not and today, they took five seconds.”
Despite his remonstrations, the French chief says Ferrari will not be appealing the verdict.
“No, no, I am not a big fan of this, it’s an incident on track,” he argued.
“But an incident on track you have always two cars in the incident and you have two ways of seeing the incident; today I’m coming as the Team Principal of Ferrari and of Carlos, my position is not the same as the other guys in the paddock.
“But I think in these decisions we could take five minutes to discuss and look at the data.”
While the penalty and Charles Leclerc’s first-lap collision with Lance Stroll left Ferrari pointless, Vasseur has stated the speed Sainz showed made for promising reading.
Having dropped to 11th after pitting before the race’s first stoppage, Sainz clawed his way back up to fourth and was in contention for a place on the podium before the second red flag.
After a nightmare race for the Italian outfit in Saudi Arabia, Vasseur was pleased to see the progress Ferrari has made with its pace on longer stints.
“Yeah there are positives, if you look at the whole weekend,” he suggested.
“Yesterday we were disappointed with the result but the level of performance was there we just didn’t put everything together but today the pace was good, we had to do an extra pit stop but I accept this and the pace was okay, it is a step forward from two weeks ago in Jeddah and now we have to do another step forward for Baku.”
After it failed to score in Melbourne, Ferrari has made its worst-ever start to a season in the V6 turbo-hybrid engine area, eclipsing its dismal beginning to 2020.
The Maranello-based squad sit fourth on 26 points, closer to fifth-placed McLaren than Mercedes in third.
Keyword: Vasseur slams FIA inconsistency amid Sainz penalty