Aston Martin raised a concern after Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had an issue during the qualifying session in China.
Sainz had a problem where he spun out and hit a wall, causing a delay in the session. According to the F1 rules, a driver who has such an issue should not continue in the session.
However, Sainz managed to get his car running again and even improved his lap time, which pushed Lance Stroll from Aston Martin out of the qualifying round.
Aston Martin protested this decision, saying Sainz should not have been allowed to continue after the delay.
But the stewards reviewed the situation and decided to dismiss Aston Martin’s protest. They explained that while the rule seemed clear, it had been applied differently in the past.
They mentioned an incident with Alex Albon from Williams in a previous race, where he rejoined the session after a similar delay.
The stewards said that the FIA and the teams had not agreed on a specific time limit for such delays, so it was left to race control’s judgment.
Even though the wording of the rule might seem straightforward, the stewards felt that the consistent practice in the sport did not support overturning race control’s decision in this case.
