Lance Stroll reprimanded at Silverstone when he only had 8 tenths of a second to react
The Canadian driver, Lance Stroll, was reprimanded by the race stewards for going out on track despite the ban during qualifying. The red light had just turned on. It's Stroll's second of the weekend.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin team driver, received a reprimand during qualifying for the Grand Prix following a breach of the sporting regulations. The Canadian driver crossed the pit lane exit line while the red light was on, thus committing an offense under Article 37.2 of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations. This reprimand is Stroll’s second of the season, out of the five allowed.
The incident occurred at 4:45 pm when Stroll left his pit stop located at the end of the pit lane. Video evidence showed that 0.8 seconds before crossing the exit line, the red light had come on. Despite the short reaction time available to the driver, the stewards deemed it necessary to impose a penalty.
« Car 18 left its stand, located at the end of the pit lane, and 0.8 seconds before crossing the pit exit line, the red light turned on. In mitigation of the penalty, the Stewards took into account the short time the driver had to react, the fact that the track was already under a red flag, thus eliminating any potential advantage for car 18 to complete the lap, and the fact that the pit lane was wet and the car was fitted with slick tires, which could have led it to stop beyond the exit line. » explains the FIA statement.
Translate: « However, it is the responsibility of the driver to always comply with the signal at the pit exit, hence the reprimand penalty imposed », they said.
The Canadian driver had already been reprimanded and fined €15,000 earlier in the weekend during the first free practice for obstructing both Ferrari drivers.
