ABU DHABI — Haas has launched an official protest against both Force India cars on the eve of the final race of the season.
Representatives from Force India have been summoned to meet the stewards at 1100 local time on Friday. The FIA did not give further details.
It is unclear whether the protest is about the design of the car itself or the entry of the rebooted Force India. Haas was upset the team was allowed to effectively rejoin the grid at the Belgian Grand Prix as a new team after its summer takeover and keep the prize money owed to the previous entity.
Force India became a new team, ‘Racing Point Force India’, at that event but kept the same car, staff and driver line-up as ‘Sahara Force India’, which had gone into administration over the summer. Haas argued that, as a new team, which lost all of its previous constructors’ championship points scored, Force India should also forfeit the prize money given to all teams that have finished in the top ten of the constructors’ championship for the last two years. Haas did not receive any prize money for the first two years of its time in operation, as per the regulations, and the American team felt the rebranded Force India team should be held to the same standard.
The team has been seeking a clarification on that issue in the months since.
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner was asked about that prize money at his Thursday press session, just hours before the protest became official.
Asked if there was any progress or clarification on the situation, he said: “No. Unfortunately … We are not making progress at the moment. That is how we will leave it.”