Lance Stroll has been given a 10-second time penalty for ignoring blue flags for a whole lap during the Austrian Grand Prix.
The Williams driver was also give three penalty points on his licence for failing to let Sergio Perez by when he was being lapped by the Force India.
The stewards noted drivers had been specifically warned about obeying blue flags during the pre-race drivers’ briefing.“The driver of car 18 admitted he had seen the blue flags, light panels and the light on his steering wheel,” noted the stewards.
“He stated his team had told him to attempt to un-lap himself but had not advised him to let car 11 pass until almost one lap of flags and lights had been displayed to him.
“The reason for awarding three penalty points is that the issue of blue flags was specifically raised at the Friday night drivers’ briefing and confirmed in the race directors notes, in particular the requirement to allow the following car to pass “at the first available opportunity”.
“In this instance the driver decided to give priority to the team instruction (to un-lap himself) over the regulations and the race directors specific instructions (regarding the blue flag procedure).”
the penalty will drop Stroll to 14th place in the final classification, promoting his team mate Sergey Sirotkin. Stroll now has a total of four penalty points on his licence.
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Bruno
1st July 2018, 19:51
Get rid of the blue flag concept and let racers race!
SimRacer (@simracer)
2nd July 2018, 1:16
Yes, let backmarkers rig the race!
GechiChan (@gechichan)
2nd July 2018, 8:45
i never undrestood the lobying for getting rid of the bluw flags, even Crofty in live coverage SkyF1 says that a lot… Why would we allow B teams like Sauber, Torro Rosso or Haas to decide the race outcome? In Monaco, Budapest, Singapore, Barcelone, etc there would be almost impossible to pass a bad marker, it would just be a ridiculous race decided by the pitstops.
Oxnard (@montalvo)
1st July 2018, 20:07
Classic Lance. F1’s Balotelli.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
1st July 2018, 20:11
In terms of following the rules, Stroll as been pretty good at avoiding penalties. This is unusual for him. Also, a driver like Alonso got this same penalty for ignoring blue flags last year. As did Vandoorne. So even a rated driver like Alonso makes these mistakes.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
1st July 2018, 22:05
Embarrassing mistake or called out on arrogance?
prelvu (@prelvu)
2nd July 2018, 4:10
+
Todfod (@todfod)
2nd July 2018, 13:13
Another feather in Sir Lance’s cap.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
3rd July 2018, 9:37
Cannot find in the article when this occurred, but given that it was talking about PER lapping STR this could only have happened after STR’s pitstop on lap 65 which would put STR between MAG and PER, and PER was losing nothing to MAG and STR, on new tyres, was trying to unlap himself. Both STR and PER were faster than MAG at this point.
It’s rubbish when a faster car on new tyres has to make way for a slower one, even if they are nearly a lap in front.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
4th July 2018, 6:58
Doubt he cares to be honest. Williams is a farce and has ruined any chance of an F1 career regardless. Give him the penalty, don’t give him the penalty, take away his license… I really doubt he cares at this point, F1 is a joke at the tail end.