Alfa Romeo lodges formal appeal against Germany penalties

The Swiss team’s drivers dropped from seventh and eighth to 12th and 13th at Hockenheim after they were given 30-second time penalties for a breach of F1’s clutch regulations.

The FIA stewards ruled that the clutches of the two cars operated in a way that potentially gave the drivers an advantage at the wet standing restart following the formation laps behind the safety car.

At the time the punishment was handed out, Alfa Romeo team principal Fred Vasseur claimed that the clutch situation was caused by something outside of the team’s control, and that it had ‘evidence’ that could overturn the verdict.

He said: “The situation arose during the laps we spent behind the safety car ahead of the standing start – we suffered a dysfunction of the clutch that was beyond our control and we will further investigate the issue.

“We respect the FIA’s process and the stewards’ work, but will appeal this decision as we believe we have the grounds and evidence to have it overturned. In this regard, we will be in touch with the FIA soon.”

Having lodged a notification to appeal on Sunday night in Germany, the outfit confirmed ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix that it had now formally lodged paperwork to confirm it wanted to go ahead with the matter.

A short statement on Twitter said: “Alfa Romeo Racing lodged an appeal against the decision No. 56 and 57 of the Stewards of the 2019 German Grand Prix.”