The stewards have penalised Toro Rosso after the team fell foul of one of the new regulations introduced for the 2014 season.
Jean-Eric Vergne was found to have used his first set of prime tyres after the first half hour of the first practice session had elapsed. Vergne returned to the pits with the tyres on his car less than one minute after the half-hour mark.
The stewards fined Toro Rosso €10,000 (£7,980) but suspended the punishment and will only impose it if the team commit a similar infraction in future.
“The competitor admitted the infringement and sought to mitigate,” noted the stewards. “Having considered the facts the stewards accept that the infringement was inadvertent and no advantage was gained as a result.”
“In the circumstances, the stewards decided that a suspended penalty was appropriate for the infringement.”
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Image © Red Bull/Getty
Fat Hippo
20th June 2014, 19:23
Hmm, well, at least unlike Perez and Force India, Torro Rosso admitted their error and culpability therein.
manik56
20th June 2014, 20:06
They tell you how you can practice now?
Nitin Patel (@nitin24)
20th June 2014, 20:41
I didn’t realize that was a punishable offense. What is the purpose of dictating tire usage during practice?
Dave (@dworsley)
20th June 2014, 21:00
To force teams to practice in the first half hour of practice 1.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
20th June 2014, 21:13
then, for the next 15 minutes, nobody comes out at all.
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
20th June 2014, 21:02
They got an additional set – in return they have to use this set in the first half an hour.
Paul A (@paul-a)
20th June 2014, 22:48
Team manager: “When we travel, we take one guy to talk to the driver on the radio, four guys to watch computer screens, eight mechanics, one guy to make coffee, and seventeen lawyers…”
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
21st June 2014, 0:48
“The competitor admitted the infringement and sought to mitigate,” – How did they seek to mitigate? Seems difficult to understand; if they were late, they were late. I think the decision is right though. To give a proper fine for such a miniscule infringement would be ridiculous.
agoodall (@)
21st June 2014, 3:39
It sounds like they were trying to time it just right, missed the timing, and then immediately told the stewards about it. Basically a mea culpa, so the stewards gave them a suspended sentence for pleading guilty.