Audi files a protest against the race result of the Italian GP. The German team reports that the rules were not properly followed during the extra restart after Yuki Tsunoda was incorrectly parked on his grid position. If this protest is successful, the Japanese driver could lose his first points of 2026.
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After the heavy crash of Charles Leclerc during the opening phase of the race, the session was immediately stopped with a red flag. After the short break to repair the wall, the FIA announced that there would be a standing start.
When forming the grid, Tsunoda was really not sharp and initially parked his VCARB 03 in the wrong place. The replacement for Liam Lawson, who drives for Red Bull due to Isack Hadjar’s injury, realized this at the last moment and had to make a tight turn quickly. The Japanese driver failed to do so and as a result, he was outside his starting box. The race control canceled the start and an extra formation lap was added.
Audi intervenes
In Audi’s protest, the team points to article B5.9.4 which states that ‘the driver who causes an extra formation lap must enter the pit lane and start the next lap from there’. The stewards acted differently on Sunday and after a few laps gave ‘No Further Investigation’.
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Audi’s protest is now with the FIA and it is still unknown if anything will come of it. The German racing team had to settle for eleventh and twelfth place in Monza for Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hülkenberg respectively. A possible time penalty for Tsunoda could therefore ensure that Bortoleto moves up into the points.
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