Haas’ Right of Review into the results of the United States Grand
Prix has been rejected by stewards. The decision came after a
lengthy hearing, following an adjournment delivered on Wednesday
[November 8], which included a number of teams. The American-owned
outfit believed there was evidence that a number of track limit
infringements were not accounted for by the stewards at the Circuit
of the Americas, with Nico Hulkenberg finishing one place away from
championship points. Williams, Aston Martin and Red Bull were
summoned to the hearing, but there will be no change to the final
classification after the stewards determined there was no new or
relevant evidence to support Haas’ claims. Stewards’ report into
the hearing The stewards’ report into the hearing confirmed members
from Haas, Williams, Aston Martin, Red Bull and the FIA were
present, as well as for Ferrari and McLaren – the latter two teams
requesting to attend as ‘concerned parties’. Haas cited four issues
it believed met the criteria to open the review, presenting onboard
footage that allegedly showed Alex Albon, Logan Sargeant, Sergio
Perez and Lance Stroll leaving the track at Turn 6 during the race.
The team submitted a claim that, during the Mexico City Grand Prix
Team Managers’ meeting, the FIA race Director [Niels Wittich] and
FIA Single Seater Sporting Director [Nikolas Tombazis] allegedly
‘made several statements’ indicating track limit supervision at
Turn 6 was ‘not ideal’. Teams fight back The report illustrated how
Aston Martin Sporting Director Andy Stevenson pointed out that he
believed there was no new or significant evidence presented by the
onboard cameras. Stevenson also highlighted that, due to Stroll’s
alleged infringements not being the subject of an initial
investigation, the Right of Review process was not bound to the
incident, rather a protest would be needed. Red Bull’s Jonathan
Wheatley agreed, before dismissing the relevance of the comments
made in the Team Managers’ meeting. The stewards therefore decided
that, whilst finding the evidence to be significant, it was not new
and not relevant, thus rejecting the Right of Review. Stewards give
reasons The stewards explained that, whilst the onboard footage was
significant evidence, because this footage is readily available to
all teams instantly, there were no grounds to label the footage as
new evidence. Explaining why the accuracy of Haas’ request was
significant, the report stated: “The petition for review asks for
Document 66 (Final Classification) to be reviewed. “Haas submitted
that the purpose of this petition was to ask the Stewards to take
action on alleged track limit infringements by Cars 2, 11 and 18
for which no ruling was given by the Stewards during the race. “The
Stewards reaffirm that a petition to review the Final
Classification must concern the classification itself. It is not
possible to exercise the Right of Review on the Final
Classification to question decisions taken prior to it. “This also
applies to incidents for which no ruling was made during an event.
The appropriate remedy to raise alleged infringements of the
regulations by other competitors during a competition is a protest
as was done, for example, by Aston Martin at the 2023 Austrian
Grand Prix. “The Right of Review is intended to enable competitors
to seek a review for formal decision taken by the Stewards in the
light of any significant and relevant new evidence that was not
available to the party seeking the review at the time of the
decision.”
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