Penalties for Stroll and Räikkönen, Gasly and Alpine climb the rankings

A lot of changes have occurred since crossing the finish line in Emilia-Romagna! Indeed, several cases were under review after the race won by Max Verstappen.

Five-second penalty for Stroll, Gasly moves ahead

First case on the stewards’ desk, that of Lance Stroll. The Canadian was under investigation for an illegal overtake on the Frenchman Pierre Gasly at the start of the Grand Prix.

Having overtaken the AlphaTauri driver outside the track limits, the stewards imposed a 5-second penalty on Stroll after hearing from both drivers.

After watching the videos and hearing the drivers, the stewards concluded that car no. 18 could not complete its overtaking on car no. 10 at turns 2 and 3 without completely leaving the track and without cutting turn 3 before returning to the track in front of car no. 10. The position was not then given back, they stated.

During the drivers’ hearing, the stewards acknowledged that car No.18 was ahead of car No.10 when it left the track, but it was in that position because the maneuver could not be completed due to the wet conditions.

As a result, Stroll loses his 7th position to Gasly who therefore scores 2 additional points for a total of 6 points, his first points of the season.

30 seconds for Räikkönen, Alpine surpasses Alfa Romeo.

Kimi Räikkönen was second on the list. The Finn was summoned to the race director’s office for failing to comply with the restart procedure following the red flag caused by the spectacular Bottas / Russell crash.

The Alfa Romeo driver made a mistake on the restart lap under Safety Car and regained the positions lost while the pack was still under its control.

« Article 42.6 then states that if a driver fails to take his grid position, he must return to the pit lane and can only rejoin the race once the whole field has passed the pit lane exit. In this case, the driver caught up with the cars in front of him between turns 13 and 14, but the safety car turned off its lights around turn 10. The rule requiring a car to return to the pit lane is present in several championships, including in the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations for several years, and is consistently enforced. » informed the stewards in the FIA report.

Earlier in the race, Red Bull driver Sergio Pérez was also penalized with a stop and go for a similar maneuver. Therefore, the race direction indicates that the penalty was mandatory for reasons of consistency.

Räikkönen therefore loses his first two points of the season on a technicality. This penalty benefits Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso, who move up to 9th and 10th place in this Grand Prix, respectively.

Big consequence in the constructors’ standings as Alpine now leads ahead of Alfa Romeo with its 3 points scored while the Italian team is still chasing its first points.