(Motorsport-Total.com) – World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli experienced a disappointing Sunday at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona-Catalonia (race report): Not only did the Mercedes driver lose a possible podium due to a technical defect, but the 19-year-old Italian was also penalized after the race.
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The race stewards retrospectively handed Antonelli a five-second penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits during the race. However, this sanction had no impact on the result, as the World Championship leader had to retire from the race prematurely anyway.
The potential penalty was already a topic during the race – especially in the duel with Lando Norris, who was temporarily in fourth place behind Antonelli. His race engineer Will Joseph informed the McLaren driver about an impending time penalty and urged him to increase the pressure.
Later, Norris’s radio even stated that Antonelli had certainly exceeded the permitted number of track limits violations, even before this information was officially confirmed by race control. The FIA race stewards only issued the penalty after the race had ended.
Stewards call on FIA to act
In their reasoning, they explained that Antonelli had exceeded the track limits a total of four times without a valid reason. At the same time, they admitted that an earlier violation was initially not recorded. As a result, Antonelli only received the warning after the fourth instead of already after the third offense.
Read more Retirement in Barcelona: Technical defect costs Antonelli second place
“The Stewards reviewed video footage,” the official verdict states. “The car left the track four times without justifiable reason. The Stewards acknowledge that the driver only received the black and white flag after the fourth violation, as an earlier violation was only identified later.”
However, the commissioners clarified that this had no effect on the validity of the rule and that drivers were still obliged to adhere to track limits. As there may be ambiguities in the relevant guidelines, the stewards recommend that the FIA review the current procedures and guidelines as soon as possible.
In the end, the time penalty against Antonelli has no sporting consequence anyway, as he had to retire from his race shortly after overtaking teammate George Russell. The Italian was still classified, as he completed more than 90 percent of the race distance. The penalty will not be converted into a grid penalty for the next race.
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