Stewards Reject Haas F1 Team’s Protest of U.S. Grand Prix Results

• Haas F1 Team officials were unhappy that several drivers appeared to cut Turn 6 at the Circuit of the Americas during the U.S. Grand Prix
  
• Stewards decided that Haas’ right of review as not admissible as the onboard footage it presented was not significant, new, or unavailable at the time
• At different races this year, drivers have made requests after some practice sessions for track limits to be modified, though have frequently been ignored.

Haas’ petition for a right of review into the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix result has been rejected—but stewards have clamored for a solution to track limits issues ahead of the 2024 season.

Haas was unhappy that several drivers appeared to cut Turn 6 at the Circuit of the Americas during the U.S. Grand Prix and submitted a right of review into the race which took place on October 22.

That was heard across Wednesday and Thursday, and Haas presented examples of four drivers—Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant—cutting the apex on several occasions during the race.

Representatives from Haas, Red Bull, Aston Martin, Williams, Ferrari, McLaren and the FIA were present during the virtual hearing.

Stewards decided that Haas’ right of review as not admissible as the onboard footage it presented was not significant, new, or unavailable at the time – the threshold which evidence presented must pass in order for a right of review to be taken to the next stage.

It means that the results of the U.S. Grand Prix remain unaltered.

Track limits were observed at COTA but Turn 6 was a point of contention and this was noted by the stewards.

“The evidence available to the Stewards (both then and now) was not sufficient to accurately and consistently (meaning for every car in every lap) penalize any (track limit) breaches occurring at the apex of Turn 6. Track limit infringements are almost universally enforced based on principal video evidence from a fixed CCTV camera of adequate resolution positioned to clearly see a car’s position in relation to the track limit boundary,” read the note from the stewards on Thursday.

“The CCTV camera for Turn 6 did not meet that standard as it did not cover the apex of the corner. Because onboard cameras are only useful for verifying a breach when viewing a car in front of the camera car and not the camera car itself, the Stewards believed they could not accurately and consistently conclude whether a breach occurred for every car on every lap.

“Anecdotal usage of trailing car video, which may or may not be available for any given car’s potential breach at any given time does not meet that accurate and consistent evidence standard. Therefore, the latitude provided to the Stewards in the Code was used to take no further action based on the lack of accurate and consistent evidence for all cars.”

The COTA case is not the first example of track limits causing grief in Formula 1 this season.

Drivers have made requests after some practice sessions for track limits to be modified, though have frequently been ignored, a situation which reared its head in Qatar when the white line dictating the track edge at Lusail was swiftly changed on safety grounds without driver consultation.

Another situation arose after the race in Austria when several track limits violations were highlighted by Aston Martin, leading to the application of time penalties for several drivers a few hours after the checkered flag.

“The Stewards have seen individual pieces of evidence that show what appear to be potential track limit breaches at the apex of Turn 6, they find their inability to properly enforce the current standard for track limits for all competitors completely unsatisfactory and therefore strongly recommend to all concerned that a solution to prevent further reoccurrences of this widespread problem be rapidly deployed,” continued the statement.

“Whether the problem is properly addressed by better technology solutions, track modifications, a combination thereof, or a different regulation and enforcement standard, the Stewards leave to those better positioned to make such assessments.

“However, based on the timing of this decision, it is clear that a complete solution cannot, as a matter of practicality, happen this year.

“But given the number of different circuits where significant track limit issues arose this season, acknowledging that the FIA in conjunction with the circuits have already made significant strides, further solutions should be found before the start of the 2024 season.”