The FIA has dismissed the protest made by Aston Martin regarding Carlos Sainz stopping in F1 Chinese GP and continuing on.
The start of Q2 in F1 Chinese GP saw Ferrari’s Sainz crash out in the final corner after slight off on the gravel. He came across the track but was largely unharmed, with major damage to his front wing. He seemingly was declared ‘stopped’ by the FIA.
But Sainz continued on and returned to pits while the session was red-flagged. There was confusion on commentary as well, as they were discussing about Article 39.6. It states: “Any driver whose car stops on the track during the qualifying session or the sprint qualifying session shootout will not be permitted to take any further part in that session.”
Since Sainz completed qualifying finishing seventh, Aston Martin eventually protested the qualifying results under Article 39.6. They did it likely to aide Lance Stroll with one position and also since they are in competition with Ferrari as well.
Upon hearing the arguments from Aston Martin, the FIA eventually dismissed the protest against Sainz and Ferrari, thereby retaining the original results. The F1 team presented its case but the stewards relayed several cases from the past where this was let of.
Here’s the full details: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Chinese%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Decision%20-%20Aston%20Martin%20Protest.pdf
Here’s how F1 Chinese GP qualifying panned out
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