Explained: Why Haas' right to review the result of the 2023 F1 US GP was rejected
Haas recently lodged a Right to Review plea to the FIA regarding track limit violations at the 2023 F1 US GP. The American team claimed that several cars from different teams had gone off track multiple times but were not investigated properly by the race stewards. So Haas created a Right to Review paper that urged FIA to look into the situation once again.
In their plea, Haas mentioned that car numbers 23 (Alex Albon), 2 (Logan Sargeant), 11 (Sergio Perez), and 18 (Lance Stroll) went off track on several occasions but were not penalized judicially for it. Haas cited all the onboard cameras of these cars in order to prove that they violated the track limit rules at turn 6 of the Circuit of the Americas.
Recently, a decision was made that the FIA had rejected Haas' plea for reviewing and penalizing teams and drivers mentioned by the American outfit.
The FIA called representatives from all the F1 teams whose cars were mentioned in the Right to Review document. Aston Martin's representative, Andy Stevenson, claimed that the track limit infringement evidence provided by Haas was neither new nor discovered during the race. Furthermore, he said that apart from on-board cameras, there is no other video evidence of the track limit violation.
Lastly, Aston Martin claimed that since no ruling was made against Lance Stroll during the US GP, the Right to Review appeal does not apply in this case. Rather, a Protest could have been lodged, which was not performed by the American team.
Red Bull and Williams representatives, who were also present in the hearing, agreed with what Aston Martin's representative claimed and had nothing major to add. Ferrari and McLaren representatives, who were present as concerned parties as well, also agreed to the points put forward by Andy Stevenson. They all claimed that their on-board footage was not significant, new, or relevant.
The stewards themselves looked into the footage of each and every car. When it came to car number 23, the footage was not new and relevant to the hearing, while the footage from all the other cars (2, 11, and 18) was not new, significant, or relevant.
Due to this, a decision was made that Haas' Right to Review petition would be rejected by the FIA stewards.
Nico Hulkenberg claims Haas' upgrades have not improved the car
Nico Hulkenberg recently spoke about Haas' upgrades and reportedly stated that they have not drastically improved the VF-23. The German driver explained that the upgrades have improved some areas of the cars while downgrading others.
"It's not a clear step forward. We understand that now and we know that. It feels similar in some places, better in some, and worse in some. At the end of the day, it's balanced. But we actually needed a real step forward in performance. Unfortunately, that didn't happen," said Hulkenberg.
The American team is currently last in the constructors' championship with only 12 points to their names.