(Motorsports news) Sainz was scheduled to start 12th after a dismal qualifying session on Friday in which he missed the cut to Q3 by 0.031s. However, barely one hour before the race, the Ferrari team confirmed that the Spaniard, Carlos Sainz would not start at all due to a fuel system issue with the car. Ferrari’s mechanics worked feverishly to make Sainz’s SF-23 ready for the grid, but the problem could not be fixed in time for the race, which begins at 8 p.m. local Qatar time.
“Due to a fuel system issue on his car, Sainz will not participate in the Qatar GP,” the Italian team said in a terse statement. Ferrari’s hopes in Qatar are now largely on teammate Charles Leclerc, who will start from fifth on the grid at the Losail International Circuit, with recently crowned triple world champion Max Verstappen heading the field from pole.
Sergio Perez will start from the pitlane after colliding with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Haas veteran Nico Hulkenberg in Saturday’s short race. Perez’s primary chassis was irreparably damaged, prompting the Milton Keynes team to construct a spare chassis overnight. It also took use of the opportunity to replace the Mexican’s entire Honda power unit, given he was already due a pitlane start owing to parc ferme violations.
Perez faced a further time penalty during the race when the FIA’s technical experts accused the team of building a third car. At the previous Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, Williams’ Logan Sargeant received an extra 10-second penalty for a similar offense. However, the stewards determined that because Red Bull had dismantled Perez’s original car to the point where it no longer matched the definition of a “car,” it never had two cars available for Perez.
The stewards issued a statement that read: “The Stewards acknowledge the fact that neither Article 27.1 nor Article 27.2 was breached as the competitor at no time had more than two cars available for use as no more than two assemblies comprising a survival cell as defined in Article 12.1 of the Technical Regulations and additional components were used at the same time.”
They said that by completely disassembling its first chassis, Red Bull avoided the requirements as anticipated. While the team did nothing wrong, they suggested that the meaning of a spare car be defined at the next Sporting Advisory Committee meeting.
“The Stewards note that the way Article 27.2 was interpreted by the competitor concerned, whilst not breaching the regulations, might not be fully in line with the intention of the relevant regulation and therefore recommend that the issue will be further discussed and clarified in the Sporting Advisory Committee.”
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