Why Monaco’s stewards rejected Ferrari’s protest

The Monaco Grand Prix was won by Sergio Pérez, while Ferrari’s top driver, Carlos Sainz, finished second, and Charles Leclerc, although he started from pole, was only able to finish fourth after a series of ridiculous mistakes by his strategists. team.

After the race, however, Mattia Binotto, the head of the Scuderia, was less inclined to analyze the miscalculations of his subordinates and more outraged by the offenses Red Bull Racing’s drivers had allegedly committed. We talked about Ferrari making an official protest to the stewards, which was rejected, but let’s discuss this story in more detail.

It took the stewards four and a half hours to release their verdict, with both Red Bull Racing drivers acquitted for what Ferrari believes had committed similar offenses clearly punishable in the past.

The gist of the matter was for the stewards to establish whether or not the cars of Perez and Verstappen (who took 3rd place in Monaco) crossed the yellow line separating the pit lane exit from the main track.

Ferrari referred in particular to last year’s precedent, when Yuki Tsunoda was fined for such a violation in the Austrian stage of the championship, and called on the stewards to apply the rules consistently.

The refereeing team examined in detail all the available video material and unequivocally determined that Perez, returning to the track after the pit stop, only touched the yellow line with the steering wheel of the car, but did not cross it.

Verstappen’s situation was more complicated, even when the race was televised close-up images from the built-in camera on his RB18 showed that the left front wheel was behind the line at one point. It turned out that the same thing happened to the left rear wheel.

The steward’s verdict reads: “All parties agreed that the left and left rear wheels of car #1 were indeed partially on the left side of the yellow line.”

More important, however, is the following detail: “Everyone… agreed that basically the left front and left rear wheels of the car stayed on the yellow line.”

In this case, one specific and very important circumstance must be taken into account: if Verstappen had committed a similar offense a year ago, he would most likely have been fined, since then the text of Article 5 of Chapter 4 of Annex L of the International Sports Code was somewhat different. It explicitly stated that “no part of the car exiting the pits may cross the line.”

However, this article has now been amended and it does not refer to “parts of the car”, but specifically to tyres: “No tire of a car leaving the pit lane may cross a line on the track to separate cars leaving the pit lane.” pit lane, from those on the track.

Because the wheels on the left side of Verstappen’s car were only partially, not completely, behind the line, the stewards believed the rules had not been broken: “In this case, the car did not cross the line.” Their solution clarifies that it is exceeded when the wheel is completely behind the yellow line.

There is another curious moment. After the Grand Prix, Eduardo Freitas, the FIA’s race director, acknowledged that the instructions given to drivers before the Monaco stage did not match the new edition of the relevant article of the International Sporting Code.

“The Race Director stated that the instructions were carried over from the 2021 version and therefore did not reflect the changes made to Appendix L in 2022,” the stewards explained. At the same time, the International Sporting Code takes precedence over the instructions racers receive for each specific stage, which Ferrari invoked when they filed their protest.

Mattia Binotto emphasized after the race: “If the wheels of the car are on the yellow line, it is a violation of the instructions of the race directorate and I believe it is the duty of every team to follow these instructions. The situation is not completely clear, we are waiting for clarification from the FIA ​​and we want to get it as soon as possible.

Now the official clarification has been received. However, it is logical to assume that by filing a protest at Ferrari, they hoped that Verstappen would receive a 5-second time penalty, and in this case Charles Leclerc would be behind after the result of the stage in Monaco. ran on the Dutchman in the personal standings of the championship not with nine points, but only with three.

To be fair, if the Scuderia’s strategists had acted more competently and Leclerc had won his home race – and it looked like every opportunity had been given for that before the pit stops – then perhaps there wouldn’t have been a protest.