Haas lodges a complaint about the outcome of the Australian Grand Prix

Having three red flags in the same race is already uncommon. But having two red flags waved in the last two laps of the race, along with a major accident in the first turn, is even more rare.

A quick recap of the context: Following the red flag caused by Kevin Magnussen’s piloting error in the first chicane, all the remaining drivers line up for a restart of the race that will only last two laps. It was therefore evident that all the drivers would go all out in the first corner, trying to gain a few positions.

But in this game, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll almost lost everything as the Spaniard was spun around by Carlos Sainz while the Canadian went straight off the track. The ones who actually lost everything were the two Alpine drivers, who collided and lost the advantage of their excellent race.

This succession of collisions, to which we must add Logan Sargeant and Nyck de Vries going off track, logically led the stewards to wave a new red flag. The subtlety lies in the fact that this new race interruption took place so that the cars could complete the first sector. That is why the FIA decided to restart the race for the last time by applying the order that was on the grid (minus the cars that were no longer in a drivable condition), which meant that Fernando Alonso regained the advantage of his third place.

But the first corner destruction game also produced big winners, starting with Nico Hülkenberg. Finishing fourth after the various clashes, he could even dream of stepping onto the podium for the first time following the five-second penalty imposed on Carlos Sainz for his collision.

So it was worth it for his team to file a complaint in an attempt to have the ranking observed on the track and not revert to the previous situation. We will know in the next few hours if the American team’s attorneys will be able to find the necessary arguments to convince the FIA to change their decision.