FIA hearing today: can Red Bull breathe a sigh of relief soon or not?

It will become clear today whether or not the outcome of the United States Grand Prix may or may not be in for a shake-up. A hearing starts this afternoon at which Haas F1 - the team that filed the protest - must convince the stewards that they have provided enough evidence to launch a further investigation.

The hearing is scheduled for 15:00 CET. If the team is vindicated, the alleged offences will still be investigated. Whether penalties will actually be handed out will then be announced at a later date.

Exceeding track limits multiple times results in time penalties in the premier class of motorsport, so there may be changes in the final results.

Turn six

The American formation claims several track limits violations were allegedly missed by race control during the race at the Circuit of the Americas. Several drivers allegedly did this at turn six. This was possible because it could not be properly measured there whether the drivers staying inside the lines with all four wheels.

Alexander Albon was already investigated for this, but the stewards took no action at the time as they judged there was insufficient evidence to "accurately and consistently conclude that infringements took place". Apart from Albon, any penalties would also affect Sergio Perez, who would potentially drop from P4 to P10 as a result.

Major consequences

If Haas are found to be in the right and the stewards rule that penalties should be involved, this would result in a fair amount of time penalties. Perez alone would receive as many as 18 five-second penalties in that case. Remarkably, despite this, he would still remain inside the top ten. For the championship, this would mean that instead of 32 points, he would only have a 21-point lead over Lewis Hamilton.

In contrast, Albon and Lance Stroll - who would also fall victim to a penalty - would fall outside the top ten. They would face 15 and 16 five-second penalties respectively. On the other hand, drivers such as George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant would actually benefit significantly from a revised result. Hulkenberg and Bottas would suddenly score points, while the other drivers would all move up a position.

Steiner is confident

According to Guenther Steiner, Haas' team boss, there is a real possibility that the stewards will revise the race result. He stated, "There is information available, and we will wait and see how the FIA reacts once they have access to this information. In my view, they should take action, because there is little point in making rules if there are no consequences. That's my personal point of view."

"Of course, I respect the fact that the stewards may not have seen the photos, which makes it difficult to judge with certainty. However, now we have convincing evidence."