Tsunoda handed grid penalty

26/08/2023
NEWS STORY

Yuki Tsunoda has been handed a grid penalty for impeding Lewis Hamilton during today's qualifying session, while Carlos Sainz gets a reprimand and no further action is to be taken against Lance Stroll.

The AlphaTauri driver was on the dry racing line at the exit of Turn 13 preparing for his fast lap and had not fully come up to speed and therefore impeded the Mercedes driver.

Tsunoda explained that he had been passed by another car and decided to remain slow in order to regain his gap. However, in the opinion of the stewards he clearly had the ability to stay off the line and therefore this impeding was unnecessary.

As a result he was handed a 3-place grid drop.

At Ferrari, Carlos Sainz received a reprimand for a potentially dangerous between turns 1 and 2.

The Spaniard was exiting the pits and immediately moved to the racing line before turn 2. In doing so Oscar Piastri, who was on track, had to take avoiding action and was partially forced off track and onto the grass.

In the opinion of the stewards this was a "Potentially Dangerous" manoeuvre, and a crash was only avoided by the actions of the McLaren driver.

The stewards listened to the radio of Valtteri Bottas, who was the driver that exited the pits immediately ahead of Sainz, and the Finn was given ample warning of Piastri approaching. By comparison Sainz was warned not to cross the white line at the exit of the pits, and was not warned about Piastri until he was already alongside.

Sainz explained that he had briefly caught sight of Piastri as he was rounding turn 1 at the pit exit and gauged that the McLaren driver was on a slow lap. From then on he did not see the Australian because of the relative angle of the cars. He also explained that he was trying to get to the drying line as quickly as possible.

While the stewards understood this explanation, in their opinion, Sainz' rapid move to the line, while unable to see a car that he knew was in the area created a "Potentially Dangerous" situation.

The stewards also felt that the team contributed to this situation and therefore issue a fine of €5000, whilst giving the Spanish driver a reprimand, his first of the season.

Finally, no further action will be taken against Lance Stroll who was alleged to have unnecessarily impeded Lewis Hamilton in turn 13.

Stroll was on a prep lap and Hamilton on a fast lap both approaching Turn 13, the stewards observed that the Canadian had stayed out of the way of several cars from Turn 10 through Turn 12. He then started accelerating for the next lap early enough that he should have not impeded Hamilton. His speed at the apex of Turn 13 was similar to fast cars at that point. However, at the exit of Turn 13 he had not gained enough momentum and affected Hamilton’s lap.

In the opinion of the stewards, while Hamilton was impeded, Stroll’s behaviour did not rise to the level of "unnecessarily impeding" as specified in the regulations, therefore no further action will be taken.

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Article from Pitpass (http://www.pitpass.com):

Published: 26/08/2023
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