The results of the United States Grand Prix could be changed over two weeks after the chequered flag waved in Austin after Haas exercised their right of review, asking the stewards to police all track limit violations.
While there were 35 track limit violations flagged up by the onboard sensors at the Circuit of the Americas, Williams driver Alex Albon was the only man in the field to pick up a time penalty.
Haas have since studied the onboard footage from all 20 cars according to a report from Auto Motor und Sport, with team manager Peter Crolla requesting a right to review the race result ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend.
There is no time limit on the reopened case and the FIA will now take a look into the matter. The American team stand to benefit from the potential penalties that could come the way of their rivals.
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive F1 news.
According to Haas’ conclusions, the FIA missed not just a handful of track limit violations but a truck-load. In their dossier, they suggested that Albon should have instead had 16 five-second time penalties.
With the likes of Logan Sargeant, Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll also singled out as drivers who deserved multiple time penalties, this would promote Nico Hulkenberg into the points-paying positions.
Should the team’s protest be upheld, there will be no changes to the top three, although George Russell would be promoted into P4 ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda.
Hulkenberg would then follow in P7, giving Haas a vital six-point haul that could change the landscape in their fight with Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri. The top then would be rounded out by Valtteri Bottas, Sargeant and Perez.
Should Haas’ protest lead to a changed result, this would add even more drama to what was already a hectic and controversial weekend for the FIA.
The sport’s governing body were already at the heart of the debate after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were both disqualified following post-race technical investigations.
