Audi has lodged an appeal against the stewards decision to take no further action over Yuki Tsunoda's alleged race start infringement.

The Japanese driver, who finished tenth, was subsequently investigated for an incident at the restart that followed the race stoppage resulting from Charles Leclerc's crash.

Taking his place on the grid, the RB driver realised he was in the wrong grid slot and moved over to the correct starting position, albeit at a slightly odd angle.

However, by this time the race director had opted to send the field on another formation lap.

At the subsequent, post-race, investigation, the stewards felt that the aborted restart was down to the race director, Rui Marques, rather than Tsunoda, who, it had been alleged, under Article B5.9.4 of the 2026 Formula 1 sporting regulations, if responsible for an extra formation lap should enter the pit lane at the end of the lap and start from there.

Furthermore, the stewards deemed there had been no reason for Racing Bulls to order Tsunoda to enter the pits given the information available to it at the time.

Audi has now challenged the decision.

"Following the Italian Grand Prix, we raised a concern regarding the application of Article B5.9.4, which requires a driver who causes an extra formation lap to enter the pit lane and resume the race from there," said the German team in a statement.

"The Stewards issued a decision of No Further Action, and we have notified our intention to appeal. As the matter is now subject to the FIA appeal process, we will not comment further at this stage."

The German team now has 96 hours in which to decide whether to formally proceed.

Drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg finished eleventh and twelfth, the Brazilian exactly seven seconds behind Tsunoda, though none of the other teams that finished behind the Japanese has similarly appealed.

Check out our Sunday gallery from Monza here.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by ffracer, 09/09/2026 0:38

"While I can appreciate midfield F1 doing everything one person/group can to obtain the result sought, then we would all appreciate finding the truth in the process like Pierre Gasly losing a hard fought third place in Monaco to a penalty inflicted by the results of an inaccurate pit lane speed sensor unfairly affecting many. This is a desperate attempt of Audi subjecting F1 results to another appeal process that is one despicable aspect ultimately impacting the validity of F1. Enough with this: Yuki's faux pas happened in the start of first part of the race, that didn't have an impact on the first race start which was subsequently red flagged. No advantage gained by Yuki or Racing Bulls. Yuki Tsunoda drove impressively to 10th place in a difficult Monza race... and after being away from F1 for months. Enough. "

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

Audi appeals Tsunoda decision

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page