Alfa Romeo Racing has been granted by the FIA a right to review for the case involving a 30-second penalty handed to Kimi Raikkonen in the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola.
Raikkonen finished the race in the points, crossing the checkered flag P9, but was later demoted to 13th by the stewards for restarting the race after its red flag period from the track rather than from the pitlane.
As the field prepared for the restart, running behind the safety car, Raikkonen spun at Imola's Turn 3 before returning to the track. The rules call for a driver to retake his normal position before the first safety car line or, if unable to do so, to enter the pitlane and start the race from the latter.
The Finn, instructed by his team, did neither as the Alfa pitwall was unsure of the proper procedure to follow, having never encountered such a set of specific circumstances.
But the Swiss outfit deemed the subsequent penalty unfair and requested a right to review based on new evidence. Following a stewards' meeting at Portimão on Friday, the FIA agreed that the new elements presented by Alfa should be taken into account.
The FIA based its initial decision on previous offenses that had occurred in F3 and F2 but admitted that such infringement did not take place after a red flag period.
The FIA said: “Subsequent to the decision and as part of this present hearing, the Stewards have discovered that the specific cases that they referred to were not following a Red Flag.
“While this was only one element among many considered by the Stewards, this information was unavailable to the Competitor at the time of the original decision and was a part of the discussion by the Stewards and is therefore deemed significant and relevant.”
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