The FIA introduced on Tuesday that Red Bull have protested the penalty that Lewis Hamilton acquired on the Formula 1 British Grand Prix, believing it wasn’t harsh sufficient.
This isn’t the primary time an F1 staff has protested a penalty, however have the FIA ever modified a penalty after a protest, and have they ever elevated the severity of 1 after an attraction?
Because The Fia Ever Modified A Penalty After An Attraction?
There have been many appeals by groups in Formula 1, although they’re often made by the groups the choice has gone in opposition to – not the staff that wasn’t penalised.
One of essentially the most well-known appeals got here through the 1976 F1 season, when James Hunt and Niki Lauda, of McLaren and Ferrari respectively, have been preventing for the championship.
New guidelines governing a automotive’s width have been introduced in on 1 May, and narrowed the permitted width of the automobiles.
The race, hosted on 2 May, was received by Hunt, who crossed the road over 30 seconds in entrance of Ferrari’s Lauda. However, he was disqualified when post-race scrutineering discovered his automotive to be 1.5cm too huge. This handed Lauda the win.
McLaren, believing the distinction that 1.5cm would have created was negligible and was as a consequence of wider rear tyres, appealed. Two months after the race the attraction was profitable, and Hunt was reinstated because the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix.
The 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix featured one other controversial penalty, this one in opposition to Ferrari.
Its two drivers, Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine, got here house first and second with McLaren rival Mika Hakkinen in third, giving Irvine a four-point lead within the championship forward of the ultimate race.
That was till stewards discovered an infringement on the bargeboards of the 2 Ferraris, resulting in a disqualification for each.
Ferrari appealed the choice and was profitable: the disqualification was overturned, and it was again in first and second. Irvine would go on to lose the championship by two factors to Hakkinen within the last race.
A newer instance comes from 2019, when Sebastian Vettel was penalised for rejoining in an unsafe method through the Canadian Grand Prix.
Vettel was given a five-second penalty through the race, dropping him to second place behind Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari initially supposed to attraction the choice, nonetheless it will definitely determined in opposition to it.
The most up-to-date instance of a penalty being incurred following an attraction comes from 2020.
Five of the groups appealed the beforehand permitted Racing Point automotive, believing it to be too much like the 2019 Mercedes W10. The attraction was profitable for the protesting groups, and Racing Point was fined €400,000 and 15 championship factors, however was allowed to maintain the offending components for the rest of the season.
Feeling that the penalty wasn’t harsh sufficient, Ferrari introduced that it might launch one other attraction in opposition to the ruling, aiming to get much more penalties levied in opposition to Racing Point – although this was finally dropped.
Racing Point additionally withdrew its attraction in opposition to the ruling, saying it did so “in the wider interests of the sport”.
While the Racing Point protest was by groups who felt a competitor had an unlawful half, protests in opposition to in-race penalties are uncommon – and even rarer once they aren’t made by the staff that was penalised.
Has The Fia Ever Made A Penalty Harsher?
One of the uncommon cases the place a penalty was elevated was in opposition to Eddie Irvine in Brazil 1994.
Irvine, driving for Jordan, and Jos Verstappen have been coming as much as lap Eric Bernhard when Irvine moved left, forcing Verstappen off the monitor.
The Dutchman misplaced management on the grass and spun again throughout the monitor, amassing Irvine and Bernhard, in addition to Martin Brundle, simply forward of the trio. All 4 needed to retire from the race.
Irvine acquired a nice of $10,000 and a one-race suspension. Jordan appealed, however the penalty was truly elevated to a three-race ban.
While the penalty on this occasion was elevated, it got here from the penalised staff interesting – not a unique (however nonetheless concerned) staff attempting to extend the severity of the punishment.
