Immediately after Qualifying, McLaren went to the FIA and lodged a protest. This effort was led by Andrea Stella, asking for clarification about the cancellation of Oscar Piastri’s best qualifying time. The Team Principal of the Woking-based team was clear in his assessment:
“No evidence that clearly and evidently says, beyond any reasonable doubt, that Oscar was outside the limits of the track”.
According to the Italian engineer, the stewards could not definitively prove that Piastri’s lap was invalid. Stella argued that the camera angles available to the FIA were inadequate to make a concrete determination.
The Australian driver was frustrated that his lap was cancelled, considering that he avoided the gravel:
“We were all excited about the fact that there was gravel on the outside of these corners and that the line had been moved a bit further so we could push without worrying about these limits. If we end up in the gravel, we ruin our lap.
“Instead, in that corner, there is obviously the possibility of going beyond the track without going into the gravel. It’s a shame!” commented Piastri, rightly frustrated after the session.
After all, the whole point of adding gravel was to eliminate these track limit dilemmas. Having a lap time invalidated despite avoiding the gravel somewhat defeats the purpose of the circuit modifications.
Andrea Stella wanted to talk with the FIA about this topic. He argued that pursuing this issue is important for F1 as a whole, not just McLaren.
However, the FIA has dismissed the team’s attempt to lodge a protest.
The FIA deemed the protest from the Woking-based team as “inadmissible”. This is because none of the necessary criteria were met for the stewards to overturn their decision, and no new information was presented.
