29/06/2024
NEWS STORY
McLaren has failed to have Oscar Piastri's final lap time reinstated.
The Woking outfit lodged a protest against the deletion of the 1.04.786 set by Piastri in the final moments of Q3, which put him third on the grid for tomorrow's Grand Prix, and which was subsequently deleted for exceeding the track limits at Turn 6.
The stewards convened a hearing with McLaren to determine the admissibility, or otherwise, of the protest, and which was attended by Andrea Stella, and Team Manager, Randeep Singh.
The protest was lodged in writing, accompanied by a deposit of 2,000 euros, and addressed to the Clerk of the Course not to the Chairperson of the Stewards.
According to the stewards the appeal did not specify any relevant regulations, did not specify against whom the protest was lodged but did identify the concerns of the protesting party.
The stewards deemed the protest was not open to protest, nor did it meet several of the required criteria for the admissibility of a protest, consequently they rejected the protest as inadmissible and the deposit forfeited..
Speaking at the end of the session, which saw Piastri drop to seventh on the grid after his time was deleted, the Australian was clearly angry.
"For me, it is embarrassing," he said. "We do all this work on track limits, put gravel in places and I didn't even go off the track, I stayed on the track.
I don't know why they've spent hundreds of thousands or millions trying to change the last two corners when there are other corners you can go off at," he added, "but anyway, everyone else stayed on the track, and I didn't.
"It was the best I took Turn 6," he said of the lap, "I was right on the limit of the track, and I think that is what everyone wants to see.
"We've spent so much effort trying to get rid of these problems, and there is no reason this corner should be an issue for track limits, especially when you stay on the track like I did.
"Obviously being the only one it happened to, I'm probably more vocal about it right now, but it is embarrassing that you see us pushing to the limit of what we can do, and if I am one centimetre wider, I am in the gravel and completely ruin my lap anyway."
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