BAKU : More teams could be encouraged to appeal stewards’ decisions after Williams’ rare success in overturning Carlos Sainz’s Dutch Grand Prix penalty points, Racing Bulls’ principal Alan Permane said on Friday.
Stewards from the race at Zandvoort last week cancelled two penalty points handed to Sainz when Williams had the decision overturned after producing “significant and relevant new elements”.
One of those accepted elements was the fact that the Spaniard’s own account of what happened in the collision with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson could only be heard subsequent to the penalty.
“I guess it will open the door to more challenges,” Permane told reporters at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
“I think one of the things they accepted was that Carlos didn’t have a chance to talk. So his testimony was new evidence. If you make a decision in the race, you’re automatically going to have that as a chance to challenge it.”
McLaren principal Andrea Stella, sitting alongside Permane, said that the threshold for reopening a stewards’ decision had previously been set too high.
“In general, I’m in favour of making the possibility to reopen a case a little easier,” said the Italian. “Having an easier way to reconsider cases and rectify decisions is something we should definitely make sure is possible.”
Sauber boss Jonathan Wheatley, who took part in many protests, appeals and right of reviews in his previous role at once-dominant Red Bull, agreed the bar had been set very high in the past.
“There’s a lot of criteria that need to be met, which is why it’s unusual for them to be upheld,” he added. “So I think what that tells you, fundamentally, is that all of those criteria — that very strict set of criteria — was met.
“It’s absolutely paramount to the sport that the drivers are free to race, and one of our slogans is ‘let them race’ in the team principals’ group.
“We’re trying to support that… it feels to me like the right decision was made in the Right of Review process.”
(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
