McLaren F1’s protest against Oscar Piastri’s penalty in qualifying in Austria for an alleged violation of track limits has been rejected by the FIA stewards as “inadmissible.”
The team of Woking had filed a formal complaint against the results of the classification of the Austrian Grand Prix because he was not happy that Piastri had been penalized and had lost his third place on the grid.
After asking the FIA for clarification on the clarity of the evidence against Piastri, the team said that allegedly blurry images from a trackside camera and a helicopter, which were also influenced by shadows, had not made things very clear.
The team leader, Andrea StellaHe said: “Our approach to racing is that we don’t want what we don’t deserve. But when the sanction is so severe, then in the interests of the sport, not in the interests of McLaren, there has to be clear evidence.”
But after a stewards’ meeting on Saturday night, and before the FIA stewards had even considered the evidence against Piastri, the protest was rejected on procedural grounds.
Firstly, the FIA said that, as set out in the FIA International Sporting Codethe decisions taken by the commissioners cannot be the subject of protest.
The FIA also noted that certain aspects of the protest document submitted required its rejection.
Among them, the fact that addressed the track secretary and not to the president of the commissionerswhich did not specify any relevant rules being protested, did not specify who the protest was against, and did not identify the concerns of the protesting party.
Stella had made it clear that McLaren wanted to be sure that Piastri had actually gone outside the white lines that define the edge of the track, but had not seen any evidence to suggest that this was proven.
“We wanted to see the evidence why the car was off track beyond any reasonable doubt,” he said. “I can’t say ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ is true.”
He added: “In this case, everything is blurred and affected by shadows. Coming here, competing, doing qualifying laps, and such a harsh penalty, like having your lap erased… So we have to make sure that the sanctions are enforced beyond any reasonable doubt.”
