13/09/2020
NEWS STORY
Mugello stewards have formally warned 12 drivers following the accident at the restart of today's Tuscan Grand Prix.
On a day that featured three restarts, it was the first (rolling) restart which witnessed carnage and resulted in the elimination of four drivers.
The Mugello stewards, having reviewed video evidence including onboard cameras, and examined the telemetry of each car involved in the restart, as well as hearing from Kevin Magnussen, Nicholas Latifi and Daniil Kvyat, along with their team representatives, concluded that the root cause of the incident was the inconsistent application of throttle and brake, from the final corner along the pit straight, by the three drivers.
While the stewards acknowledged the challenge the location of the control line presents at Mugello and the desire of drivers to take advantage of the restart, the incident demonstrates the need for caution to be exercised in the restart situation, and noted the extreme concertina effect which dramatically increased as it moved down the field.
The stewards also noted that some drivers might have avoided being involved in the incident had they not followed directly behind the car in front. By doing so they effectively blocked off all visibility of what was happening immediately in front of the preceding car.
Consequently formal warnings have been issued to Kevin Magnussen, Daniil Kvyat, Nicholas Latifi, Alexander Albon, Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon, George Russell, Antonio Giovinazzi and Carlos Sainz.
The warnings have been imposed as it is the view of the stewards that no one driver was wholly or predominantly to blame.
The stewards further noted that Valtteri Bottas and the other drivers involved in the restart not mentioned above, complied with the regulations. Bottas had the right under the regulations to dictate the pace.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Mugello, here.