Home F1 FIA rejects Haas’ right to review petition for US GP track limits

FIA, Haas — CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - OCTOBER 22: Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-23, leads Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23 during the United States GP at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday October 22, 2023 in Austin, United States of America. (Photo by Andy Hone / LAT Images)

FIA rejects Haas’ right to review petition for US GP track limits

09/11/2023

The FIA has rejected the right to review petition of Haas regarding track limits situation for several cars and results of F1 US GP.

The FIA has formally rejected the right to review petition of Haas regarding Williams’ Alexander Albon’s track limits in F1 US GP along with the same offence for Logan Sargeant, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

The summons saw Haas being represented by Ayao Komatsu and Andrea Fioravanti
(External Legal Counsel), Aston Martin having Mike Krack, Oliver Rumsey and Andy Stevenson in attendance, Williams having Sven Smeets and David Redding and Red Bull bringing in Jonathan Wheatley.

The FIA were represented by Nikolas Tombazis, Steve Nielsen and Tim Malyon. Additionally, Inaki Rueda from Ferrari and Randeep Singh from McLaren requested to join the meet even though both the F1 teams weren’t summoned by the stewards.

In their petition, Haas presented onboard footage of four drivers:

On-board video footage of Car 23 and following cars showing Car 23 allegedly leaving the track on several occasions at the apex of Turn 6 during the race.
On-board video footage of Car 2 showing it allegedly leaving the track on several occasions at the apex of Turn 6 during the race.
On-board video footage of Car 11 showing it allegedly leaving the track on several occasions at the apex of Turn 6 during the race.
On-board video footage of Car 18 showing it allegedly leaving the track on several occasions at the apex of Turn 6 during the race.

Haas noted that the Team Managers’ Meeting held before Mexico GP had the FIA Race Director indicating about lack of supervision of Turn 6 track limits during US GP. They also clarified that the petition to review Albon’s case was different to that of reviewing the race results considering that Sargeant, Perez and Stroll were never investigated for Turn 6.

The representatives of Aston Martin and Red Bull noted about no new evidence and that there was no external footage like CCTV to make it a new evidence. The latter also noted that the team managers’ briefing is irrelevant to the case.

Williams concurred with it, with McLaren and Ferrari adding nothing more. The stewards in their response agreed that Albon’s onboard is significant but it is not new and not relevant, while in the case of Sargeant, Perez and Stroll, neither of the cases fulfilled the criteria.

And so, the FIA rejected the petition of Haas, but added that in the case of Albon as they noted after the race, the evidence to penalise him was not enough as it was not consistent and accurate. The stewards, though, agree that Turn 6 has a potential for track limits.

And so, they will work with the circuit to find suitable solution to better monitor. Here’s the full detailed decision: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20United%20States%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Decision%20-%20Haas%20Right%20of%20Review.pdf

Here’s FIA adjourning Wednesday meet

Here’s Fernando Alonso recalling Michael Schumacher fight

Here’s details on Haas’ right to review where Red Bull has been summoned

Here’s Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso on P3 battle

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