The Aston Martin team have officially lodged a protest against Carlos Sainz and Ferrari after the Spaniard had a major moment off the race track in Q2. The 29-year-old’s SF-24 went into the gravel after he lost control of the car. Since his car suffered damage to the front wing and was also stranded in the opposite direction, Aston Martin believe that Sainz should not have been permitted to carry on, as per Article 39.6 of the Sporting Regulations. However, Will Buxton believes that the stewards are likely to provide Sainz a “wiggle room” and rule in his favor. Taking to Twitter (now X), Buxton wrote a lengthy post that read,
“I’d imagine Ferrari have a fair amount of wiggle room here. Surely Charles stopped when he biffed the barriers in SQ as does almost anyone who has a spin. Stopping in those instances isn’t deemed as stopping. You can’t restart a dead engine so the engine never stopped. And the rule says stop on track, and the race directors notes remind competitors the track is clearly defined by the white lines and Carlos was over them and on the grass”.
As per the regulations, the interpretation of the word, ‘stopped,’ will decide whether the stewards rule in favor of Sainz or against him. If the stewards decide to delete Sainz’s Q2 lap time, then the 29-year-old will lose out on his P7 spot. Such a decision would promote Lance Stroll to P10, which will benefit Aston Martin.
Meanwhile, Buxton is not the only expert who believes that the stewards will rule in favor of Sainz. Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas also pointed out that Sainz is permitted to “restart a stopped engine”.
Ferrari’s quick repairs help Carlos Sainz qualify P7
Carlos Sainz’s massive moment into the barriers in Q2 resulted in race control bringing out the red flag. The red flag helped Ferrari as it gave them ample time to repair the Spaniard’s SF-24.
What helped Ferrari to recover the car in quick time was the angle at which Sainz crashed into the barriers. After the qualifying session, the Spaniard revealed that he deliberately collided with the barriers at a particular angle after his initial mistake to prevent massive damage to his SF-24.
“I managed to crash at the right angle. I turned the wheel a bit to make sure I didn’t crash straight with the rear tire and I made it more sideways and this probably saved the day,” explained Sainz (as quoted by gpblog.com). Once the #55 driver got back out on the track, he made sure that he did not make any mistakes.
The Spaniard comfortably progressed to Q2 before registering a 1:34.297 in Q3 to place his car seventh on the grid for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix. Sainz will start just a place behind his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc and will look to fight for the podium to maintain his record of finishing in the top three in every Grand Prix he has competed in this season.
