Aston Martin protested towards the qualifying lead to Shanghai after Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz rejoined Q2 after spinning off the observe.
Sainz was stationary for 77 seconds after tapping the wall popping out of the ultimate nook, however the Spaniard managed to get going once more and superior to Q3 on the expense of Aston driver Lance Stroll.
As its driver was eradicated, Aston determined to protest the outcomes primarily based on article 39.6 of the F1 sporting laws, which states that “any driver whose automotive stops on the observe in the course of the qualifying session or the dash qualifying session shootout won’t be permitted to take any additional half in that session.”
The stewards dismissed the protest because it had been clear from earlier situations that the rule is just meant for vehicles that re-join a qualifying session after having acquired exterior help from marshals or restoration autos, whereas Sainz continued underneath his personal energy.
However the incident re-opened a dialogue about tidying up the rulebook, as beforehand it was agreed that the surface help component needs to be added to 39.6, although the modification did not make it into the 2024 sporting laws.
“It is simply clarifying issues and, in the long run, plenty of dialogue with the stewards and you have to respect the choices they’ve come to,” Aston Martin’s efficiency director Tom McCullough defined.
“However hopefully it’s going to get tidied up and be much less ambiguous going ahead as a result of it is fairly clearly acknowledged within the messaging system that the automotive stopped.
“That article says that that automotive should not participate additional in qualifying. So, that’ll get tidied up going ahead.”
Ferrari group principal Fred Vasseur agreed that an express clarification is welcome to keep away from additional confusion, declaring that F1’s sporting laws have change into ever extra advanced.
“I do not know if it is clear, however for certain we have to have some understanding of what occurred,” Vasseur stated.
“We requested the race director if we may restart, he stated sure, and it was the tip of the story. We now have to outline the scenario precisely.
“However what’s true is that the laws are increasingly sophisticated. After I began the job, the sporting regulation was 20 pages, at the moment it is 75.
“We’re all looking for a loophole and the laws at the moment are increasingly sophisticated, however on this one, we are going to discover a straightforward clarification.”
McCullough revealed Aston’s long-time sporting director Andy Stevenson instantly referred to as out the potential guidelines breach as soon as Sainz’s automotive had stopped on observe.
“Andy sits subsequent to me on the pit wall and he is aware of that rulebook inside out, he’s like an encyclopaedia. He is been right here for thus lengthy,” McCullough stated.
“The minute it got here up on the official messaging system {that a} automotive had stopped, he went – bang – ‘Article 39.6, he cannot [rejoin].’
“We have been slightly bit stunned, which is why [we protested].”