Sauber not to appeal exclusions

Sauber will not appeal the exclusions of drivers Kamui Koba-yashi, of Japan, and Mexican Sergio Perez from the Australian Grand Prix for technical infringements, the Formula One team said yesterday.

Kobayashi, who finished eighth and Perez, in seventh, were found to have breached technical regulations and will not get any points from the race.

Sauber said that the post-race checks by stewards revealed that a radius on the upper rear wing element on both cars contravened the regulations by a few millimetres.

“After examining all the facts, the Sauber F1 Team has decided not to appeal against the verdict of the stewards following the Australian GP last Sunday,” the team said.

Sauber’s technical director James Key added: “It did not bring us any performance advantage, but the fact is that it was a deviation from the regulations. We take note of the stewards’ decision.

“We have since found that there was an error in the checking process for the relevant dimension on this component.

“We have already put measures in place to ensure that nothing of this kind occurs again in the future.”