Haas have asked for a review of the decision to disallow Oliver Bearman’s final qualifying lap at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
The Briton’s final lap was fast enough to qualify him to move beyond the first knock-out session, but it was deleted by governing body the FIA on the basis it was set after the session was stopped following a crash by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
But Haas and Bearman believe the FIA stewards made a mistake, and that Bearman completed his lap before the red flag.
The US-based team have demanded an explanation for what happened and a strategy to avoid similar incidents in the future.
Haas said in a statement on Sunday morning: “After discussions last night with the FIA, we have subsequently asked for further written clarification on the decision-making concerning Ollie Bearman’s final Q1 lap, in order for us to review more comprehensively.
“We similarly asked what measures the FIA/race control can put in place moving forward to ensure that this situation is avoided in the future to the benefit of F1. Upon review we will be more informed to comment.”
The FIA delayed the start of the second session of qualifying to review the situation, but stuck with its original decision.
This was despite the fact that on both television footage and live-timing data Bearman clearly crossed the line to jump up to 10th place just before the red flag was indicated.
An FIA statement said: “The red flag was set at 16:32 and 17.6 seconds.
“Bearman crossed the line at 16:32 and 20.9 seconds, with the abort signal/red flag showing on the start gantry.
“Qualifying Two was delayed to enable the stewards to consult the relevant timing experts and examine the underlining data to satisfy themselves that the timing system data was valid and it was therefore right to proceed.
“The overriding objective was to determine whether or not Bearman had completed the lap before or after the red flag and whether the lap should be disallowed, to ensure the right drivers progressed to Qualifying Two.”
An FIA spokesman added that, while the red flag was not showing on the boards at the start-finish line, the orange ‘abort lap’ lights were on the start-line gantry.
The spokesman pointed to article 37.6 of the FIA’s F1 sporting regulations, which says these lights will be shown in addition to red flags at marshals posts if a session needs to be stopped.
Bearman said: “We get the red light on our dash. That for me didn’t happen until quite a way after I crossed the line.
“Watching the outboard video, it was clear that there was no red flag displayed when I crossed the line.
“So, I believe it’s totally unfair to have [the lap] deleted. I feel like once they make a decision, even if it’s wrong – even if it’s clearly wrong – they’re not going to turn back on it. And that seems a bit harsh.”
