Ferrari to appeal against Carlos Sainz’s ‘unacceptable’ penalty at the Australian Grand Prix

Ferrari are appealing Carlos Sainz’s five-second penalty imposed towards the crazy conclusion of last Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard was penalised after tagging Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso as racing resumed after the second of three red flags.

Sainz was distraught as news of the punishment reached him as he sat in the cockpit, saying: ‘No, it’s unacceptable. Tell them it is unacceptable. Tell them they need to wait until the race is finished and discuss it with me.

‘Clearly the penalty is not deserved – it’s too severe.’

Given that the race finished under a safety car with the field consequently bunched up, Sainz dropped to 12th, having previously been fighting his compatriot Alonso for a podium finish.

Ferrari driver was penalised after tagging Fernando Alonso towards the end of the race

Now Ferrari have lodged an appeal. 

‘You have 14 days to register the petition,’ said team principal Fred Vasseur. 

‘We have done that in time and the hearing will be before the next race in Azerbaijan at the end of the month.’

The stewards are usually reasonably relaxed about incidents at starts, but acted because they deemed Sainz ‘wholly to blame’ for the prang.

It completed a miserable afternoon for Ferrari, who lost Charles Leclerc on the first lap after he and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll touched.