Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, Paul Ricard, 2018

Raikkonen avoids penalty for impeding Magnussen

2018 French Grand Prix

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The stewards have decided not to penalise Kimi Raikkonen despite concluding he did delay Kevin Magnussen by overtaking the Haas driver at the start of his final qualifying effort.

Having spoken to both drivers the stewards concluded “there is no doubt that the ‘push’ lap of car 20 [Magnussen] was thwarted by the proximity of car 7 [Raikkonen] which overtook car 20 just after it had started the lap.”

“This was the last opportunity for each driver to achieve a fast lap in Q3,” they added. Magnussen’s frustration was heard on the team radio during the session, when he excalimed “what the [censored by FOM] is he doing?”

However the stewards ruled Raikkonen’s driving was similar to what he had done on other laps.

“The stewards noted that the driver of car 20 was unsure of the intentions of the driver of car 7 during the last half of the previous lap, where car 20 was on an ‘out’ lap and car 7 had aborted a push lap. Car 7 did slow towards the end of that lap but when compared to a previous out-lap in Q3, there was a similar pattern of slowing in the same area.”

“The stewards are not of the view that the driver of car 7 ‘unnecessarily impeded’ car 20 (refer Article 31.5 of the Formula One Sporting Regulations). In addition, the Stewards do not consider that the driver of car 7 drove ‘unnecessarily slowly’ (refer Appendix L Chapter IV Article 2e of the International Sporting Code.

“Despite the negative effect the incident had on the lap of car 20, the stewards decline to take any further action.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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19 comments on “Raikkonen avoids penalty for impeding Magnussen”

  1. Had it been the other way around…

    1. Almost guaranteed

  2. Right, so that helps explain, I guess, how Magnussen only out-qualified his teammate, who took himself out.

  3. I’m just happy tha Mag did not get penalized for being there since Penalty when Mag is involved normally only works if its possible to gove Mag points:).
    When Kimi made desperate overtake in hairpin Monaco 2014, bringing both to still loosing lots of places out og top 10, no penalty, so stewards could be said to keep the standard – in a way…:)

  4. Well from reading the steward’s statement, I’m none the wiser, so shall best get on with catching up with the Ch4 highlights!

    1. Until then, I cannot avoid the impression that had it been the other way around, Magnussen would have gotten a penalty (even though Kimi probably still would have failed his q3 laps as he did now).

      1. Agreed. This is “pile on Magnussen” year. I missed this and will have to look at the highlights, also.

      2. Did you miss Canada? 3 cars impeded Vettel, not one got a penalty.

  5. Someone should have told him Le Mans was last week. Guy was fuelled for a mega stint.

  6. What a joke not to penalize RAI.. the other way round and MAG was out with a black flag..FIA is a joke..

    1. Thats how FIA got its nickname of Ferrari International assistance and a quick lesson on how Limping horses drivers get away with any nonsense on trace.

  7. Nunu has it right but, there is more.
    I am a Raikkonen fan and so I am glad that he was not penalized but the assertion that the FIA is a joke is correct.
    Once again we see different rules for different drivers and different teams .Not only is the FIA a joke but, so too is F1 but, unfortunately the joke is on us fans.
    The engineering that is displayed in the F1 car is marvelous and with a few exceptions ( notably Monaco ) the tracks are impressive as well , with some ( notably Spa ) are very impressive . What is disappointing ,however,is that the competition is regulated and guided by those with no sense and less honor and so we fans are deprived of what should be world standard events and instead are given mostly are promises of greatness leading to disappointments and let downs .
    Tomorrow ,if you stay awake through the “race” you will see that Mercedes uses Bottas ( and I do mean “uses” ) in that he will not be permitted to contest for the win but, rather he will be instructed to hold back and slow down Vettel and any other challenge to Mercedes’ #1 driver,Hamilton.
    Bottas will have no choice save to comply knowing that the only way to keep his generous employer happy is NOT to pose a threat to it’s de facto #1 driver .
    Hamilton will ,with interfere being provided , run and hide from the pack which will bunch up behind Bottas .
    Good for Mercedes and Hamilton but, bad for ,the French GP, F1 and most important -THE FANS.

    1. I totally agree, you just know bottas won’t challenge lewis at the start, so we know in advance it will probably be a boring start following a boring race. The same would happen with a ferrari 1-2.

      It’s why i think we should get rid of the constructors championship, turn that into an engine supplier championship. Wcc destroys racing and equal fighting chances for the best teams.

      1. @azmo But there is no Ferrari 1-2, Kimi will be eaten by the RB drivers and his fans will claim that he has been screwed by Ferrari yet again.

    2. @rikdi, remind me again, this was the same Bottas who was on course to win at least two of the opening races and was in a position to be leading the championship early on? There seemed to be little attempt there to hold Bottas back and prevent him from challenging Hamilton.

  8. I do pity the pessimists of the forum. How do you get any joy from watching Formula 1?

    1. @scottie, there seems to be a certain class of fan whose joy seems to be a slightly sadistic one – they seem to get pleasure out of criticising and complaining about others.

  9. The precedent for the future has now been set.
    BTW, ”Magnussen’s frustration was heard on the team radio during the session, when he excalimed “what the [censored by FOM] is he doing?”
    – No, that radio message wasn’t broadcasted on the world feed.

  10. C’mon Kimi, show us you’ve got the speed to be up there. Leclerc is your successor now, better show him what he’s gonna replace. Kimi is I guess in a comfortable place in his life. He’s got a beautiful wife with 2 kids now so his energy and motivation has clearly shifted. I wish we could see his sheer pace of his Mclaren time. But I guess the mindset changes for few after an age. The time he had in lotus was kind of a revival for him and I guess Ferrari has become his comfort zone. Hopefully we see him win once before he retires. Probably at Spa:)

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