Charles Leclerc penalized 3 places on the grid for the Styrian Grand Prix
Charles Leclerc was penalized with a 3-place grid drop on Saturday evening after impeding Daniil Kvyat during Q2. On Sunday at 3:10 PM, the Ferrari driver will start 14th on the grid.
It’s certainly a complicated Saturday for Charles Leclerc! Eliminated in Q2, the Monegasque driver finished 11th in this qualifying session, in extreme weather conditions.
This poor performance was not his only concern since he was under two investigations by the FIA stewards who reviewed the incidents after the session. The first investigation accused him of not returning directly to the pits in Q1 after the red flag caused by Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo crash in the last corner. The second occurred in Q2, when he impeded Kvyat’s AlphaTauri on track.
It is for the second investigation that the Ferrari driver was penalized. The track stewards decided to penalize him with a 3-place grid drop. Leclerc will start this Sunday from the 14th position.
« The video evidence and telemetry data showed that the driver of car 26 [Kvyat] was impeded by car 16 [Leclerc] in turns 9 and 10 » the stewards indicate in the statement.
« Although the weather conditions affected the visibility in the mirrors and the driver did not intend to impede another car, the stewards determined that the driver of car 16 should have been informed of the arrival of car 26 and could have acted differently. This is why the penalty was imposed. »
Regarding the investigation for the red flag in Q1, the Ferrari driver was cleared because evidence was provided indicating that a safe return to the pits at the time of the red flag was not possible.
