After two races that were relatively subdued, the Australian GP came out with some much-needed spice. The race, as usual, started with 20 drivers on the grid. However, multiple failures and crashes saw just 12 cross the finish line. Among them was Carlos Sainz, who finished the race in P4 but owing to a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso, slipped down to P12. Just seconds later, Alpine teammates crashed into each other after Pierre Gasly turned into Esteban Ocon. However, the stewards did not penalize the Frenchman. That begs the question, does FIA judge cases inconsistently to please the interests of a few?

Chaos ensued on the track after Sainz ran into Alonso from the back after the second restart. In his bid to avoid becoming a part of the pile-up, Gasly turned sharply to his right but crashed into Ocon, who caught him unaware. Had the stewards slapped a penalty on the Alpine man, he could have well taken a race ban owing to being just 2 demerit points away from it.

Discussing the situation on a recent episode of the VF1 show, co-host VF Castro said, “Why wasn’t Carlos able to plead his case with this? But other drivers were able to. We all know the Pierre Gasly situation. He’s two points away from a race ban. He has two points expiring next month which will kind of take him out of that danger zone, but not much. And maybe that was the team’s decision that we are going to claim responsibility for this because we can’t afford to lose Pierre for a race. If you’re going to allow one team to plead their case but not allow Ferrari to plead their case, that’s just sh*t, in my opinion.”

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They also discussed Alonso’s case when the FIA overturned the time penalty to reinstate his P3 finish in Jeddah.

Was the FIA justified in not giving Carlos Sainz a chance to plead his case?

Fernando started the Saudi Arabian GP out of the demarcated limits of his box. That resultantly saw him take a 5-second time penalty. When he came into the pits to serve the penalty, the mechanic working on the rear of the car placed his jack under the car before the Spaniard served all 5 seconds of his penalty. That, post-race, saw him take a 10-second penalty, stripping him off of the podium finish. However, the 2x champion pleaded his case, as did the team and the ruling body overturned the decision.

Connecting this incident with Sainz’s, podcast co-host Vincenzo Landino said, “It’s not just Sainz, right? Other drivers have been allowed to go to the FIA afterwards and plead their case, which is a whole another issue in itself. Should you be allowed to plead your case, should it matter? I don’t know, but even Alonso, two races ago, he was able to plead his case. And the team was allowed to plead their case and they got the penalty overturned, rightfully so. I think that was a just call to overturn that. But why is it allowed in certain circumstances, why is it not allowed in others.”

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Ferrari has lodged a petition for review on Carlos’ penalty. Team boss Frederic Vasseur too accused the FIA stewards of handing out penalties inconsistently. Do you think the ruling body will reinstate the Ferrari driver back in P4?