Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, Circuit de Catalunya

McLaren fined again for unsafe release during practice

2018 Austrian Grand Prix

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McLaren has been fined €10,000 for sending one of its cars into the path of Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari during the first practice session for this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.

The stewards ruled Stoffel Vandoorne “was released unsafely” by the team and Vettel had to take avoiding action as a result.

“It was noted that the driver of car five had to brake heavily to avoid a collision, locking the front wheels. McLaren admitted that the release was the fault of the team.

“The stewards accordingly determine that the car was released unsafely in breach of Article 28.13 a).”

Vettel told his team on the radio during the session “I nearly crashed into the McLaren” when it appeared in front of him in the pits.

McLaren were previously fined €5,000 during the Chinese Grand Prix for sending Vandoorne’s car out of the pits with a loose wheel.

Carlos Sainz Jnr also collected a €500 fine for his team during the first practice session. The Renault driver was caught breaking the pit lane speed limit, which he also did when he returned to the pits at the end of the French Grand Prix.

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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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4 comments on “McLaren fined again for unsafe release during practice”

  1. Sooooooo………, what’s that in freddos?

  2. Just saw that on TV. That McLaren employee that waived him out, his brain must be totally “out to lunch”. That was inexcusable.

  3. It shocks me how often this seems to happen in F1, it’s really not that hard. The guy standing there literally has one job, waving the driver out when no cars are coming.

    1. Invisiblekid
      29th June 2018, 23:03

      They deserve this 100%, absolute craziness given the fact this was FP1, not for a place on race day!!!!

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