Haas F1 team’s US Grand Prix petition rejected by the FIA
The FIA has rejected Haas F1's 'Right of Review' request after failing to find any plausible new element. The request for this review was submitted earlier this month regarding the US Grand Prix.
The Haas F1 team had earlier filed a review of the US GP, citing that car number 23 on the grid (the Williams of Alex Albon) had left the track during the race and rejoined multiple times on turn 6. Albon finished P9 in the race (with a 5-second time penalty) and was followed by his teammate at P10 after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified for technical infringements.
The stewards, however, rejected Haas' request on the grounds of not having any "significant or relevant" new elements. If the plea was accepted and the race result was altered, there was a significant chance that Nico Hulkenberg, the P11 finisher, would have earned at least one point.
Currently, the team is in dire need of some points to get out of the bottom of the standings. They have just twelve points in their bag with two races to go in the season. Alfa Romeo is four points ahead of them in ninth place.
What was the basis of Haas' plea rejection by the stewards?
The team submitted a total of four videos of the race as evidence which were the on-boards of Alex Albon, Logan Sargeant, Sergio Perez, and Lance Stroll.
Haas was required to submit significant and relevant 'new' elements to have their review accepted and then a decision would have been made by the stewards. As they mentioned, Albon's footage, while significant, was not new and relevant. It was deemed that the American team already had the footage while submitting the review, and they provided "no additional evidence during the hearing but reinforced its position outlined in its written submission".
Following up, the onboard footage of the rest of the cars was not new, relevant, or significant enough.
Alongside the representatives of Haas F1, the representatives of Aston Martin, Williams, Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren were also present during the hearing.
The team is currently in a difficult situation regarding their position and development. After another weekend ending with no points in Brazil, Hulkenberg mentioned the weak aerodynamics of the car. He also stated that if the issue is not fixed, they will remain uncompetitive in future seasons as well.