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Red Bull's Max Verstappen was penalized for causing a collision with Valtteri Bottas, but the Dutchman firmly disagreed with the call, saying he gave Bottas space but the Finn simply made a "half-hearted move".
Verstappen was driving on a podium place after starting fifth, with the Dutchman overtaking Bottas at the first turn of the race. It looked to be a second podium-finish for the 20-year-old, until Bottas came knocking on the door. The Finn unsuccessfully tried a move before, but when he tried to get on Verstappen's outside, the two touched, and Verstappen got a five-second penalty. That eventually cost him two places, meaning he finished fifth even though he crossed the line third.
"It's not surprising that Bottas made a half-hearted move like that," Verstappen told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
"He always hesitates and did it again there.
"Hamilton and Vettel are much more direct with that, they would never hang around behind me for so long.
"If Bottas is hesitating for that long, I'm never letting him past, of course," the fiery Verstappen said.
Both cars had no damage after they touched, but the Dutchman got hit with a penalty. He firmly disagreed with that decision.
"You have to be able to race hard," he explained.
"There was a little touch and you immediately get penalized.
"I could let him past, but I'm not wired like that.
"I'm already in a lesser car, so I'm not throwing away a chance to get on the podium."
McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes Stoffel Vandoorne would be an ideal signing for Red Bull's junior Formula 1 team Toro Rosso for 2019.
Following the announcement that the Belgian will make way for Lando Norris in the McLaren line-up next year, Vandoorne is a free agent – but his options of staying in grand prix racing appear limited.
Brown believes Vandoorne would be a natural fit at Toro Rosso, which will lose its top performer Pierre Gasly to the main Red Bull team and is not committed to retaining Brendon Hartley.
The lack of Red Bull juniors eligible for an F1 move in 2019 means Toro Rosso is edging closer to rehiring Daniil Kvyat, who was released from the programme last year.
Asked about Vandoorne's F1 prospects, Brown said: “I definitely think he's a Formula 1-calibre driver, and if I was Toro Rosso, you have two open seats or you appear to have two open seats, I'd put Stoffel in in a heartbeat.
“Stoffel's an outstanding race car driver. You know, ultimately, we look to the future and Lando's a future star.
“I think in a different environment Stoffel may excel more with a better race car.”
Vandoorne has been roundly outperformed by world champion teammate Fernando Alonso in his two years at McLaren, during which the team has struggled with an uncompetitive package.
“I think we've had a very poor race car for two years,” Brown conceded. “Someone like Fernando can adapt quicker, he's got so much experience.
“Stoffel was very close to Fernando, A lot closer than, as Fernando commented, some other teammates.
“If I look at those [Vandoorne's] debut races, besides Bahrain [in 2016], which was an impressive debut, but in the 2017 season he was going to racetracks and losing practice sessions, and I'm not sure he ever got the opportunity to get into a groove.
“And when you have a teammate like Fernando, who can draw on all that experience, and is recognised as the best guy or one of the best guys out there, Fernando's going to adapt to that situation [better].”
Asked whether he would phone other F1 teams in an effort to help Vandoorne remain on the grid, Brown said: “Yeah, I already have, and anything we can do to help Stoffel we will help him in a heartbeat, we consider him family, he's been outstanding to work with.
“Hopefully he remains in Formula 1, he deserves to be [here], but we have some racing activities that we are reviewing, and I wouldn't hesitate to keep Stoffel within the McLaren family if there was a seat available and he had a desire to race there.”
Dr Helmut Marko has issued another quit threat, this time if the Red Bull-Honda partnership does not work out.
Red Bull’s ever-outspoken motorsport advisor is never too far from saying the four-time World Champions will leave Formula 1, but has suggested this time that their upcoming partnership with the Japanese manufacturer is their last roll of the dice.
“We are pleased with the great cooperation with Honda for the coming years, and if this cooperation, for whatever reason, does not work as expected, then Red Bull will leave Formula 1,” Marko told Speedweek.
Honda have produced some impressive results this season with Red Bull’s junior team, Toro Rosso, with Pierre Gasly’s fourth place finish in Bahrain the absolute pick of the bunch.
And Marko has also revealed that Honda were very close to pulling the plug on Formula 1 themselves after three miserable seasons with McLaren.
“The cooperation with Honda has been running very well with Toro Rosso so far,” Marko continued in reference to Red Bull’s junior outfit.
“After the McLaren disaster, Honda was close to a departure from Formula 1 at the end of 2017 and we really had to convince the Japanese in intensive conversations that they could resume with us to start.”
Sebastian Vettel is unhappy with the way Kimi Raikkonen behaved himself during the Grand Prix, after the Finn firstly qualified in front of him and then didn't let him pass during the Grand Prix itself at the start.
The German started the race from P2 behind Raikkonen, but when he tried a move on Raikkonen in the first chicane, the Ice Man defended hard, clearly not wanting to give up his place to his teammate. Directly after the race, Vettel wanted a word with the team before talking to the media.
"When I had to evade him in the next chicane, Lewis could get past," Vettel told Ziggo Sport.
"I had no space and made a spin and had severe damage."
Finally, Vettel revealed why he went to Ferrari straight after the race. He wasn't happy with the team's strategy, which is understandable from his point of view.
"I'm not particularly happy with the way Ferrari managed things on Saturday.
"It should've been me starting from pole position.
"For me, it's clear: I have to race three cars, including my teammate."
Normally, Vettel and Raikkonen get along nicely, but there's clearly a little rift between the two now. For once, Kimi bet on himself instead of letting Vettel past as he always has to do, which clearly surprised and upset Vettel.
^ it's a hard call as Kimi got a tow from Vettel in P3 which helped getting pole.
Then Kimi was slow in his start which backed up Vettel into Hamilton who made a good start.
Vettel did not defend well in the 2nd chicane but it was partly due to Kimi not being quick enough.
That article just makes it seem like Vettel is just over it.
Was on the radio at the end of Q3 when he was told he was P2 & replied with "We'll talk after".
I think Kimi/Seb and Lew/Bottas are 2 of the better pairs on the grid. No real bad blood between them (outside of this past weekend for the red cars). Whether that's a factor of Seb/Lew typically outpacing their teammates, or just genuine good pairings
Max & Daniel are a good team, they just can't seem to finish with both cars.
FIA race director Charlie Whiting says Max Verstappen's anger at the penalty he received during the Italian Grand Prix was "absolutely expected".
Verstappen was penalised for his late-race clash with Valtteri Bottas, with the stewards deeming that he had moved in the braking area and not left the Finn with a car’s width.
After learning of the penalty from his team, Verstappen said: “I gave him space. They are doing a great job of killing racing, honestly. Bullshit.”
Whiting says that he gives drivers the benefit of the doubt when they criticise his decisions during a race.
“I heard that second-hand,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com of Verstappen's comments. “I don’t think you can take too much notice of comments made in the heat of battle, but I’m sure at the next drivers’ briefing we’ll have a little chat about that.
"As I say in the heat of battle, that’s absolutely expected.”
Verstappen continues to challenge the penalty, having subsequently viewed replays.
“I’ve watched it back, of course, and I still don’t agree with it,” he told Dutch TV channel Ziggo. “Maybe I could have given him a couple of more millimetres, but he was on the white line.
"But yeah, we can talk about this for a whole lot longer, it already has been decided.”
Asked if the rules should be changed, he said: “One steward gives a penalty, another doesn’t. I don’t think it’s the rules.”
Earlier in the race Verstappen’s engineer told the Dutchman that he had played his only “joker” in reference to an incident where he locked up and straight-lined the first chicane when under pressure from Bottas.
Verstappen noted: “I saw he was quite far behind me, but he braked very late. At the last moment, when I was about to steer in, I was thinking that he might be next to me, so that’s reason I locked up and then I had to go wide.”
Whiting explained that the incident had no influence on the penalty that was given for the later tangle with Bottas at the same corner.
“They were unconnected,” said Whiting. “The 'joker', as you put it, was cutting the chicane, not actually gaining a place, but staying in front by virtue of cutting the chicane. Which is an advantage of sorts.
“We told the teams that we would normally give the driver one free one, unless of course, let’s just say, he cut the chicane the first time and gained five seconds and kept it, then we wouldn’t let him have that one.
“But this one he just stayed in front of Bottas. And you could in theory do that every lap and say 'I didn’t gain a position', but you stayed in front because you cut the chicane.”
That article just makes it seem like Vettel is just over it.
Was on the radio at the end of Q3 when he was told he was P2 & replied with "We'll talk after".
Vettel did not have to race his team mate into the 2nd chicane-he could've waited, pulled out the inevitable gap to Lew due to the Ferrari superiority then they could've swapped positions when the pace was set. Instead he tried to win it 1/3 of the way around the track on the first lap. His own damn fault and his judgment clouded by red mist.
On another note, guess who I'm hanging with this weekend? He's the honorary Grand Marshall for the Vintage Race at the Glen. Looking forward to some drinks with this guy.
On another note, guess who I'm hanging with this weekend? He's the honorary Grand Marshall for the Vintage Race at the Glen. Looking forward to some drinks with this guy.
That makes sense, because he seemed to be drunk half the time he was on the air. I've said it before, not a fan of Hobbs. Have fun shooting the breeze, Chief.
I must say, I was extremely pleased with Verstappen's penalty. Verstappen is the worst offender of the no-two-moves rule. He is always moving twice to block people, and this time he didn't get away with it.
Vettel did not have to race his team mate into the 2nd chicane-he could've waited, pulled out the inevitable gap to Lew due to the Ferrari superiority then they could've swapped positions when the pace was set. Instead he tried to win it 1/3 of the way around the track on the first lap. His own damn fault and his judgment clouded by red mist.
Vettel did not have to race his team mate into the 2nd chicane-he could've waited, pulled out the inevitable gap to Lew due to the Ferrari superiority then they could've swapped positions when the pace was set. Instead he tried to win it 1/3 of the way around the track on the first lap. His own damn fault and his judgment clouded by red mist.
Hamilton made a strong start and Vettel had to be defensive, he could not afford to wait as Hamilton drew along side the Vettel before the 2nd chicane.
To me the blame is split between Vettel and Kimi because Kimi was slow and held up Vettel and Hamilton which backed Hamilton into Vettel.
Vettel would have probably lost 2nd place to Hamilton and the way MB worked their tire strategy it's sorta doubtful Vettel could have regained 2nd.
In one of the more silly F1 dramas of the past few years, teams had been wondering why Ferrari had been coolings its onboard camera with an ice pack. Now it has become clear that, well, cooling wasn’t what the team was going for.
Ferrari was ordered to stop “cooling” its mandated onboard camera (required for getting onboard views for TV,) as Auto Motor und Sport reported on today, when really all it was trying to do was block what the camera was seeing.
That was extra clear after Ferrari immediately covered up its whole cockpit, as Tobi Grüner tweeted out.
What Ferrari was hiding was its displays and steering wheel settings and procedures, per AMuS:
Ferrari wanted to prevent the competition from being able to spy on its steering wheel set up and display messages, when the car is in the garage or on the starting grid.
This reminds me of one of my favorite F1 cheats in history, which relied just as much on misdirection as anything else. That was when Gordon Murray figured out a simple way to cheat suspension height rules and then installed an empty box full of tubes and wires to make everyone think that was the real speed secret.
What’s odd is that you’d think this new Ferrari onboard camera drama would be something that would affect all teams equally, but other teams haven’t taken these anti-spy measures. Maybe there’s something else going on we don’t know about.
Hamilton made a strong start and Vettel had to be defensive, he could not afford to wait as Hamilton drew along side the Vettel before the 2nd chicane.
To me the blame is split between Vettel and Kimi because Kimi was slow and held up Vettel and Hamilton which backed Hamilton into Vettel.
Vettel would have probably lost 2nd place to Hamilton and the way MB worked their tire strategy it's sorta doubtful Vettel could have regained 2nd.
IDK, James Allen agrees with me
"The mistake Vettel made – or felt forced to make by the circumstances – was in trying to get the lead on the opening lap from Raikkonen, rather than focussing on keeping Hamilton behind and crossing the line 1-2 at the end of the lap to control the race.
Vettel tried to pass his team mate on a suboptimal line into the second chicane and Hamilton saw his chance, forcing his car into the gap and the pair touched, sending Vettel spinning down to 18th place."
Toto Wolff has admitted Mercedes would consider releasing Esteban Ocon from their young driver programme if it helps him to get a drive next year.
Ocon has been supported by Mercedes through the junior ranks and into F1 and has impressed in his three seasons, but his future is uncertain as Lance Stroll looks set to join Force India, while his Renault avenue was closed off thanks to the signing of Daniel Ricciardo.
McLaren then this week promoted Lando Norris to join Carlos Sainz in their 2019 line-up, with Zak Brown saying that Ocon's links to Mercedes represented "a tick in the wrong box" for their recruitment strategy.
Williams remain an option for the Frenchman, but Wolff says being a Mercedes junior is not helping Ocon's development at the moment.
"Fundamentally why we do this is we take great enjoyment in helping young talented drivers who lack finances," said Wolff.
"When we took Esteban from Gravity [management team], we felt that he needed support. But if our support only works until Formula 1, but is then detrimental to these guys to get the right seats, you need to consider these things [releasing Ocon].
"And then think what does it mean to be a Mercedes driver? At the moment you're driving for another team, Esteban is not going to take any s*** from me if he was driving for a McLaren or a Williams. The whole system needs to be scrutinised in my opinion."
The two senior Mercedes seats are currently filled by Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, but Wolff believes Ocon will be in a race-winning car sooner rather than later.
As an extremely quick member of the Mercedes young driver programme, and having enhanced his growing reputation with another fine season at Force India, Ocon should be a hot commodity in F1.
An unexpectedly lively summer market, however, means he has been left in the lurch.
Ocon's future all looked to be sewn up as recently as the Hungarian GP, with Mercedes, eager to place their driver in the best car possible, reaching an agreement with Renault.
But Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo then shocked everyone, including Renault themselves, by accepting their offer for 2019.
"I think that Renault, having secured Ricciardo, has made a coup for the team," said Wolff, refusing to blame the French team. "It's a no-brainer. When you have the possibility of signing that calibre of driver you have to go for it."
Ocon still would have hoped to have an opportunity at Force India, having impressed over two years with the team, but their administration and subsequent takeover by a Lawrence Stroll-led consortium again caught the Frenchman out.
Stroll, the father of Williams driver Lance, is eager to bring his son into a more competitive team, and may not wait before 2019 to do so.
In a conversation with Sebastian Vettel caught on F1 TV cameras, Ocon confirmed he was set to be replaced at Force India by "the one who bought it".
With Ferrari appearing poised to hand Charles Leclerc their second seat for 2019, there are only four other teams who have yet to confirm their 2019 line-ups, and three of those, Haas, Sauber and Toro Rosso, would seem unlikely candidates for Ocon due to their respective affiliations.
That would leave Williams, who run Mercedes engines.
Lewis Hamilton has backed Ocon, claiming "he needs to be in a great car because he's one of the top drivers here", and the 21-year-old himself admits he is driving for his future.
"If you do a strong job in Formula 1, the teams, they can't skip you, they need to have you. So, that's what I'm trying to do," he said in Belgium.
If Stroll does move from Williams to Force India, reserve driver Robert Kubica could step in, while Sauber are believed to be interested in McLaren exile Vandoorne.
A revamp of the power unit rules – to make engines louder, cheaper and less complicated – could be signed off ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix following discussions in the F1 Strategy Group.
While an initial idea of a radical overhaul of the rules – which included ditching the MGU-H – has been wound back, a series of tweaks are still being looked at that will allow drivers to push harder and will make cars sound better.
New engine rules were also being used as a way of enticing new manufacturers in to F1, with Porsche, Cosworth and Aston Martin all keeping a watching brief over the development in case there were opportunities for them to join in.
But with framing the rules having dragged on, FIA president Jean Todt has said that the indications now are that no new entrants will now come initially.
Asked by Motorsport.com about the prospect of a new manufacturer joining F1, Todt said that one party – which is understood to be Porsche – had been serious but had now suggested it was not going to green light a project.
“There was some demonstration of interest from one, who said to us we are not in a situation to commit for 2021 but, what is very important for us, is to know exactly what will be the regulations, because there could be a strong interest in the future,” said Todt.
Todt added that the most important thing for him is that F1 appears to be heading to a deal that will ensure Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda are all happy to continue.
“My priority is to make sure that we keep them four,” he said. “I always said it would be very unfair to the four engaged to say, ‘okay, we want to attract a new one so let’s change everything’.
“But what about them? What about all the investment they have been doing for years and we say, we change completely the regulations because we may have one or two coming?
“That is one of the reasons why it was not a revolution on the engine regulations. Now if we can secure those four for me that would be a great achievement.”
Todt added that he was never confident that F1 would be able to attract more than four manufacturers while its engine rules were so different to other categories.
“I was always pessimistic to the fact that with specific rules for F1, we could have more than four manufacturers,” he said.
“I feel personally it is really a great achievement to have four different powertrains for 10 teams – because it means 2.5 each.
“So I was very sceptical. That is why I also asked to consider to have some common regulations in other championships because it would encourage other manufacturers, if you were able to have seven to 10 customers, to be able to buy the powertrain. But that has not happened.”
Feel really bad for Kimi if it is true. Also, I don't see LeClerc scoring enough points next year for constructors championship so if they can't figure a way to pull it off this year I feel like Ferrari won't be able to win one with this car design.
Red Bull Formula 1 boss Christian Horner says Toro Rosso won't sign Esteban Ocon owing to the French driver's Mercedes connections.
Horner says that Ocon would not be considered by Red Bull for a Toro Rosso seat while he is contracted to a main rival, despite the lack of qualified young drivers within the drinks company’s own junior programme.
Both McLaren boss Zak Brown and Renault chief Cyril Abiteboul have expressed similar sentiments about Ocon, who will be without a drive when Lance Stroll joins Force India.
“For what is relatively little investment by Mercedes it’s been to their merit that they’ve helped these guys to get into F1,” Horner told Motorsport.com. “But now it seems to be almost an anchor being a Mercedes driver.
"Being on a recall mechanism isn’t attractive to a vast majority of teams.
“The crazy situation is you’ve got a driver like Ocon who might end up without a seat next year. If he was to be contractually free he’d be an obvious candidate for Toro Rosso.
"But Red Bull aren’t going to invest in a Mercedes driver, understandably. And I wouldn’t expect the same to happen the other way round.”
Mercedes should have taken risk on Ocon
Horner said that Mercedes could have solved the Ocon problem by promoting him to a race seat with the works team, pointing that Red Bull had taken the plunge with Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
“It’s very easy to go with something known," he said. "And there’s far more perceived risk in taking an unknown quantity or a junior, and I think we’ve demonstrated on numerous occasions that it pays off.
“We’ve had a very successful junior programme, and Red Bull has a junior team, and has invested in that. It’s paid dividends with Seb, Daniel and Max, and we’ll see with Pierre Gasly [who replaces Ricciardo in 2019].
"And it’s given numerous others opportunities, such as Carlos Sainz.”
Horner acknowledged that there is currently a “window” just below F1 in Red Bull’s talent ladder, but he stressed that there are plenty of youngsters on the way up.
“The market place goes in fits and starts," he continued. "We’ve got Dan Ticktum in F3 who’s winning that championship, but these things are all cyclical.
"We’re constantly looking at young talent and emerging talent, so I don’t think that window will be open for too long. We’re looking at the grass roots, investing in youth.
"We have two very good young junior drivers on karting at the moment, Harry Thompson and Jonny Edgar. You have to go to the grass roots to try and support young talent coming through.”
Michelin believe they could improve Formula 1’s racing as if there were a “tyre war” taking place, and that they can do so even as the sport’s sole supplier.
However, the company’s motorsport boss, Pascal Couasnon, reckons F1 is losing out by not having Michelin supply the tyres.
“Is F1 good today? That would be my question,” Couasnon told Autosport.
“The sport and the [tyre] manufacturer would have to take a risk, but compared to today [it could be good].
“Look at MotoGP. We bring three types of tyres for the front and the rear, and the riders can choose. You then finish the race with three different combinations on the podium.
“The best compliment we have received from journalists is that Michelin has recreated a tyre war with one brand, and that is what we would love to do for F1.
“Let’s not forget endurance racing for example. in GTs, we deliver specific tyres for each car because there is such a difference between a Ferrari, a Porsche, an Aston and a Corvette.
“And nobody complains because we work hard to give the best package possible, so everybody can fight. That is the philosophy we would like to bring to F1.”
As for why Michelin opted not to enter the race to replace Pirelli, Couasnon says that’s because of the changing tyre specs, 13-inch wheels for 2019 and 18-inchs the following year.
“When we were informed of the key elements of the tender, we looked at it and fairly rapidly we saw that there might be some very serious roadblocks,” he said.
“Obviously the first one was the fact that we had to start a development of 13-inch wheels [for 2019], which really didn’t make sense. It would bring a lot of cost to something about which Michelin had a very clear position.
“Budgets are restricted and we need to make sure that we use the money on something that is useful for motorsport but is also useful for the car of tomorrow. So that was one very serious roadblock to start with.
“Nevertheless we were very encouraged with the fact that F1 has taken into account that proposal of Michelin [for 18-inch tyres] that we made in 2010 and that we have been able to implement in Formula E.”
“The second issue in terms of philosophy was having tyres which degrade, and that again is something that we are not in favour of: spending technical resources and money for something that is not useful for the driver of tomorrow.
“The key thing is to really develop the package which helps the driver to express his talent and fight.
“We don’t believe degrading tyres to build an artificial strategy is the way to go for tyres.”
As Mercedes face a dilema finding seats on the F1 gird for their young drivers, Toto Wolff has proposed running a third car for drivers with “two years” or less experience.
With Mercedes having already locked in their line up for next season, retaining Valtteri Bottas alongside Lewis Hamilton, the team’s other drivers could be left out in the cold.
Esteban Ocon is on the verge of losing his Force India to Lance Stroll with Wolff struggling to find him a new home while Formula 2 championship leader George Russell is also wanting a promotion to F1.
Wolff’s solution, a third car specifically for young drivers.
“I have a simple solution,” explained the Mercedes motorsport boss.
“Give us a third car. Make it mandatory to put a young driver, with maximum two years [of F1 experience], in that car.
“The costs wouldn’t be huge. The grid would be packed and we would have fantastic shows of new kids on the block coming up and fighting hard with the Valtteris and Lewises of this world and surprising us.”
Wolff added that no matter how much teams like Mercedes, and even Ferrari, want to promote young talent, it is a risk putting them in the car early in their careers.
“The big teams are not going to take risks with young drivers.
“Now, you can say ‘well, that’s boring’. I think it’s boring. We should take risks, we should put 18-year or 19-year-old great talents in a top car and give them a chance.
“But the problem is if you lose a Drivers’ Championship or a Constructors’ Championship because they have a learning curve then it’s obviously not great. And we haven’t done it and Ferrari haven’t done it in the past so we need to question that.”
A lot of sense allowing a 3rd car , PROVIDING ! that it garners no constructor points . There are some good points already made within these comments regarding how this could be made to work ! ....A shrinking grid means fewer opportunities for young drivers ! ...... B spec cars for less experienced drivers could be a great way forward without huge cost increases ! ..... and at the same time providing great entertainment for the spectator !
This is as it should be and as it used to be.
No team should have to run 3 cars, only 2 nominated cars/drivers in each season can score points, 3rd car can be driven by different drivers at different venues, 3rd car can have different sponsors (including variation from race to race ) from point scoring cars.
Great idea, through and through.
Yes, let 3rd driver score driver points but no manufacturer points. And, not mandatory to have a third car. They could get another 3-4 cars on the grid and because they would come from big teams they wouldn't be back markers.
Good chance of increased risk, though, if the 3rd car has full parity with the main cars. Put a less experienced driver potentially higher up the starting grid & add chaos to some already frantic starts/T1 incidents.
Would they also have to bring back a maximum grid size & some primary (backmarker teams) drivers don't get to start the race?
Haas has lodged its formal appeal with the FIA over the exclusion of Romain Grosjean’s car from the Italian Grand Prix, Motorsport.com has learned.
The American-owned outfit had until Thursday night to lodge its paperwork with motor racing's governing body, having made a notification of its intent to appeal on the Sunday night at Monza.
Although it is common for teams to withdraw their appeal plans before the 96 hours they have to officially put it in writing, Haas has followed through on its belief it should not have been excluded.
Grosjean was stripped of his sixth placed finish in Italy following a protest from the Renault team about the design of the floor he used.
An investigation by the stewards discovered that Grosjean's car did not comply with regulations that demanded the front corners of the T-tray of the floor have a 50mm radius when viewed from below.
The Haas car fell foul because an update that it had used since the Canadian GP did not comply with a new interpretation of the rules that had been laid down by the FIA in July.
The team was aware of the issue, but had asked the FIA for more time to make amendments to its car because modifications were difficult to implement during the Formula 1 summer shutdown.
Haas raced on with the design but Renault complained in Italy – shortly after Grosjean’s sixth place had moved his team ahead of the French car manufacturer in the constructors’ standings.
Team principal Gunther Steiner was clear after Grosjean’s disqualification that he felt the decision was wrong.
"We do not agree with the Stewards' decision to penalize our race team and we feel strongly that our sixth-place finish in the Italian Grand Prix should stand,” he said.
After its exclusion, Haas said it intended to appeal – and that has now been confirmed in writing to the FIA before the Thursday night deadline.
It is expected that confirmation of the appeal process, and the timing of any court hearing in Paris, will come next week.
09-04-2018, 10:13 AM
Was Raikkonen supposed to coast & just give Vettel the pole? 
No idea why he forced the issue on lap one.
Love it
