F1 2023 - Round 3: Australia

The after magnesun restart was the right thing to do. It levels the field and actually adds to entertainment. The last lap was pointless they should count back and end the race instead. It's not the FIA's fault the drivers couldn't drive a few laps with out causing chaos. The sainz penalty is a farce did that lap exist or not?

Sainz deserved the penalty. A lot of cars didn't finish because of him hitting Alonso.

Best race of the season so far i think, 3 weeks now until Azerbaijan tho

Had that Sainz incident happened on the lap one start, I promise you that would have been chalked as a racing incident no further action. I think we might have another appeal like we had in Saudi a couple of weeks ago.

Good call to penalize Sainz ... onboard shows he had plenty room on the inside, and he had no steering lock

ARGH! What did I miss??

I woke up, checked the F1 app and saw Sainz in 3rd and Gasly in 5th on the last lap and now it’s completely different!

Agreed that they never would have made the same call on lap one. The FIA created an unprecedented situation where the all the cars were put in a position where the entire weekend up to that point was basically wiped away in favour of an all or nothing grid start in the unpracticed conditions of low fuel with a low sun in the sky directly ahead in their eyes.

Collisions were almost inevitable and Sainz has given them an out to place all the blame on him, even though he actually left quite a bit of room on the outside compared to various other unpenalised incidents through the race.

Can’t see there being an appeal though. It’s not as clear cut as the rules simply being applied incorrectly as they were with Alonso last race - there are many many precedents of bad decisions being made related to racing incidents which never get changed on appeal.

Gasly gutted in pre race interview. Now also under investigation.

That will be a race ban for him if found guilty

They missed him because he pitted ... but

"The FIA press release outlining the report’s findings states the following: “It was also acknowledged that in accordance with the applicable regulations, drivers have an obligation to limit their speed accordingly under yellow flag, safety car and red flag conditions. The drivers are further obliged to apply common sense at all times.

“In the case of Gasly, data showed that in an effort to close the delta time to the safety car he had been travelling at speeds which exceeded 200km/h before the scene of the Sainz incident – and after passing the stricken Ferrari of Sainz under a red flag.

“It should be noted that after the event he expressed his regret during a stewards’ hearing which resulted in a penalty.”

The report states that Gasly passed the Sainz crash site at 189km/h – 67km/h quicker than the fastest car running behind the safety car, which was Haas’s Kevin Magnussen at 122km/h.

Six seconds later, Gasly passes the Albon car recovery at a slower 163km/h, but then accelerates back up and reaches a maximum speed of 250km/h during the rest of his lap back to the pits, for which he was hit with a 20s penalty after the Suzuka race had finished, which dropped him from 17th to 18th in the final classification "

So it was Gasly himself who created a dangerous situation

As for today ... Teams and drivers want to finish under racing conditions..... They could maybe have opted for a rolling start ... In the end its a driver who controls the car and not the FIA.

And he got penalty point for other actions as well

Hulkenberg you mean?

That was worth setting the alarm for anyway, plenty of chaos!

Yes ... it was out of the question .. Red bull is to quick, nothing re management from the mercs could have changed that