Discussing the Final Lap Chaos at the Australian GP

It has been over a week since the events of the 2023 Australian GP and yet it still feels like a bit of a fever dream. Of course, that is mainly in reference to the last lap where all hell broke loose with what felt like half the grid crashing into each other. In typical fashion for the FIA, this led to some controversial decisions and what I want to focus on is the dishing out of penalties from that final lap.

Carlos Sainz was given a five second penalty for the contact he made with Fernando Alonso which spun him out of a podium position – fair enough. Or was it? There are two angles that can be taken here: either all drivers who made an error get a penalty or none of them do because the lap technically never happened. You will be shocked to know that this stems from an issue of inconsistency from the FIA once again. There are two incidents that I feel are worthy of a penalty alongside Sainz’s which is the crash between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon and then how Logan Sargeant just decided to drive into the back of Nyck De Vries.

I want to look at whether these should have been penalties under normal racing conditions. Firstly, the new French Civil War between Gasly and Ocon should have resulted in a penalty for Gasly after the race (like a grid penalty as he didn’t finish) as he fails to see Ocon when rejoining the track and takes them both out of the race. Of course, as a consequence, Gasly likely have had a race ban then because he is on ten points and twelve are required for a race ban. Secondly, Sargeant definitely should have had a penalty served after the race as he quite simply got his braking into turn 1 all wrong and crashed into the back of De Vries. So why were there no penalties for them but there was for Sainz?

You could suggest it’s because the last lap technically didn’t happen but then Sainz should not have one either. You could say that there was so much going on that they just failed to look at these incidents but that is then suggesting the FIA forgot to do their job properly (although would not be too surprising). For me, it comes down to consequence and who is involved. Sainz received a harsh penalty because it was contact between two top teams fighting for a podium place whereas they were lenient on Gasly as he would have received a race ban and didn’t give Sargeant a penalty because it was an incident right at the back of the field. The inconsistency is what angers me the most because it begs the question of what is the point in having all these rules if they can just be ignored, like in Abu Dhabi 2021 except less extreme here. In essence, this is about the failure of the FIA once again. I know it's a hard job but it is their job and they do not do it properly to high and consistent standards enough.