United States Grand Prix results stand after F1 stewards reject Haas appeal
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Haas had Nico Hulkenberg finish 11th at the race in Austin, Texas.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON – The United States Grand Prix results were confirmed after Formula One stewards on Thursday rejected an attempt by the Haas team to have them reviewed weeks after the event.
Stewards ruled, in a lengthy statement, that Haas had presented no significant and relevant new element that was unavailable to them at the time of the Oct 22 race in Austin, Texas.
They also noted that their inability to properly enforce track-limit violations for all competitors at Turn 6 of the Circuit of the Americas was “completely unsatisfactory” and a solution had to be found before the start of next season.
“Whether the problem is properly addressed by better technology solutions, track modifications, a combination thereof, or a different regulation and enforcement standard, the stewards leave to those better positioned to make such assessments,” they added.
The decision was reached after a virtual hearing that started on Wednesday and was deferred to Thursday.
Haas, last in the championship, sought the review during last weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix as they believed some rivals exceeded track limits without sanction.
The usual penalty for track-limit transgression is five seconds added to a driver’s race time, which would have altered results of the US Grand Prix had the verdict gone in their favour.
Representatives of the governing body FIA, Aston Martin, Williams and reigning champions Red Bull were summoned to the virtual hearing while McLaren and Ferrari also attended as concerned parties.
The US-owned Haas submitted onboard video footage of four cars leaving the track on several occasions at Turn 6 – Williams drivers Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
They argued that the track-limit infringements were “neither noted, nor investigated nor penalised by the stewards as reflected in the final classification”.
Representatives of Aston Martin, Red Bull and Williams all argued there were no new elements since the onboard cameras of all cars were available to teams during the race and no secondary evidence, such as CCTV, was presented.
The stewards found the onboard camera footage of Albon’s Williams and following cars was significant but not new, previously unavailable or relevant. The footage of the other three cars failed to meet any of the requirements.
Albon ended up ninth in Austin with Sargeant 10th. Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg finished 11th. REUTERS
