Sergey Sirotkin, Williams, Baku City Circuit, 2018

Williams denies targeting rivals by requesting review of Sirotkin’s Baku penalty

2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Williams says it was not seeking harsher penalties for rival teams when it requested reviews of five incidents which occurred during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The team asked the stewards to reconsider the three-place grid penalty given to Sergey Sirotkin for his collision with Nico Hulkenberg on the first lap of the race.

As part of its attempt to have Sirotkin’s penalty reviewed the team also requested reviews of four further incidents involving five other drivers: Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasly, Kimi Raikkonen and Esteban Ocon.

Chief technical officer Paddy Lowe insisted the team was only interested in improving the situation for its driver rather than disadvantaging its rivals.

“It’s very much around just understanding the penalty [for] Sergey,” said Lowe during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.

“Whilst we did raise other penalties or non-penalties that was a matter to be considered as reference, not that we wanted any change to anyone else’s situation, that would never be our desire.

“The penalty to Sergey seemed to us particularly harsh in the context of everything else that happened in that event.”

The stewards rejected Williams’ request for a review, stating they had not offered any new evidence which merited reconsidering them.

“We don’t have any ability to appeal but we do have a right to review and we took up that right and the stewards were good enough to put time to it,” said Lowe. “Although they didn’t agree we had new elements they nevertheless gave some opinions back that were helpful. So we leave it at that.”

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One comment on “Williams denies targeting rivals by requesting review of Sirotkin’s Baku penalty”

  1. John Toad (@)
    15th May 2018, 14:32

    Given that Grosjean has been given the same penalty for, what I would consider, a far more serious error, I have to agree with Williams request for a review.

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