Aston Martin had filed a protest in opposition to the end result within the wake of Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s off-track tour in Q2.
Sainz spun out of the ultimate nook and tapped the tyre wall on the alternative facet of the circuit, inflicting a purple flag as he was stationary for over a minute.
Article 39.6 of the F1 sporting rules states that “any driver whose automotive stops on the observe in the course of the qualifying session or the dash qualifying session shootout is not going to be permitted to take any additional half in that session.”
However Sainz managed to get going once more and following fast repairs was in a position to put in a lap that superior him to Q3. He thereby knocked out Aston driver Lance Stroll, who missed the reduce in eleventh place.
The rule is supposed to forestall drivers from rejoining the session after receiving help from marshals or restoration automobiles, and never those that are in a position to drive off below their very own energy.
However the actual wording of the article does not point out that, opening the door for Aston to have a go at protesting the end result.
Nonetheless, the stewards have nonetheless dismissed Aston’s protest as they felt it was clear from “quite a few examples” as to how the rule can be utilized.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, crashes throughout Q2, inflicting a purple flag
Picture by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
“It’s clear that the plain language of Artwork. 39.6 means that as long as a automotive “stops” on the observe throughout a qualifying session, that automotive shouldn’t be permitted to take additional half within the session,” the stewards’ verdict learn.
“Nonetheless, it was clear from the examples cited by a variety of the staff managers current and the FIA, that this was not how this rule was utilized by the groups and the FIA prior to now.”
One instance talked about was Williams’ Alex Albon rejoining qualifying within the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix after being stopped for 40 seconds, to which Aston argued that Sainz’s cease for a interval of 1m17s was too lengthy.
The stewards famous that the rule’s ambiguity over what constitutes a “cease” had really been the topic of dialogue prior to now.
However as a result of no settlement between the groups might be reached over which period restrict so as to add to the rules, it was left as much as the discretion of race management.
“The FIA staff defined that as long as the automotive was in a position to restart and proceed from a stopped place inside an affordable time, that will ordinarily be permitted.
“The groups themselves mentioned that they’d beforehand tried to agree what they thought-about to be an affordable size of time earlier than a automotive can be thought-about ‘stopped’.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, heads again to the pits after a crash which triggered a purple flag in Q2
Picture by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
“Sadly, they weren’t in a position to come to a closing settlement on the utmost time allowed.”
The stewards additionally mentioned they have been proven notes from an F1 Fee assembly at Spa final yr the place the consensus was so as to add the ‘outdoors help’ component to article 39.6, however that change wasn’t made within the 2024 sporting rules.
They concluded that “even when the plain wording of Article 39.6 warranted a extra stark conclusion, the constant observe within the sport to this point didn’t warrant a setting apart of the discretion exercised by race management by us as stewards.”