The Stewards Room: Tsunoda fined, Verstappen escapes penalty and McLaren’s protest
30th June 2024The stewards had a busy afternoon, after qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, contending with several issues.
Feature image credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Mercedes fined for unsafe release
The steward slapped Mercedes with a fine for releasing their departing driver, Lewis Hamilton, in an unsafe manner as his car dragged an exhaust extractor and jack on its way into the pit lane.
The Stewards had acknowledged that the team instructed the seven-time world champion to stop before any further damage could be done, preventing a dangerous situation.
Despite this, they still imposed a €5,000 fine on the team.
Haas given reprimand
Haas was slapped with a ‘team reprimand’ for a pit lane incident during qualifying as it was found Nico Hulkenberg had ‘no suitable gap to blend’ into the fast lane.
The Stewards had acknowledged the team’s garage position inside the pit lane facility and took into consideration they were positioned in a place where other drivers slowed down to make a gap to those in front.
In the report, the stewards confirmed that a suitable gap was available when the car was released from the garage but soon disappeared when other cars queued in front of their garage.
As a result, the team was hit with a reprimand.
Tsunoda fined
Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was fined €40,000 for using offensive language over team radio in qualifying.
The Japanese driver acknowledged his wrongdoing on the basis that English is not his first language and was said to be ‘horrified’ when he learned the meaning of the words he used.
As a result of his honesty, the Stewards imposed a severe fine on Tsunoda of which €20,000 would be suspended for the remainder of the season on the condition no similar incidents occur.
Verstappen escapes driving slowly penalty
Reigning world champion, and Austrian GP pole sitter, Max Verstappen had escaped possible punishment for ‘driving unnecessarily slowly’ during qualifying.
In the report, it was found that Verstappen had exited the pit slowly and established a gap of 14 seconds to the car in front. The Stewards deemed no other drivers were affected by this and noted other cars were making similar gaps too.
They did, however, acknowledge this could ‘prevent other drivers from setting a lap time’ at the end of qualifying, in different circumstances. As such, the Stewards recommended consideration should be given when setting a ‘maximum gap time’ during qualifying.
McLaren’s protest dismissed
After qualifying, McLaren had protested the qualifying result of the Austrian Grand Prix in respect to Oscar Piastri’s deleted lap time in Q3.
The Stewards had convened a hearing with McLaren’s Team Principal, Andrea Stella, and Team Manager, Randeep Singh, to determine the admissibility of the protest.
Following the hearing, the stewards rejected the protest ‘as it is inadmissible.’ In addition, according to the report, McLaren’s protest ‘did not meet several of the required criteria’ to provide the protest as admissible.
Read more Formula 1 here:
- Tsunoda fined for offensive language in Austrian GP qualifying
- Verstappen dominates to 40th pole position for Austrian GP
- Verstappen holds off McLarens to secure Austrian GP Sprint win
- Max Verstappen pips McLarens to Sprint Pole in Austrian GP
- Lance Stroll to stay at Aston Martin for ‘2025 and beyond’
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
