Sirotkin reprimanded for slow driving following “set-up error”

2018 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Sergey Sirotkin has been given a reprimand for driving too slow during qualifying at Interlagos due to an apparent error by his team.

The stewards found Sirotkin, who qualified 14th for Sunday’s race, drove too slowly as he returned to the pits at the end of Q1 but acknowledged this was at least in part due to a “set-up error”.

“Car 35 exceeded the specified maximum time between Safety Car Lines on its in-lap at 15:18,” the stewards noted.

“The stewards closely examined the drivers in-lap and found that Car 35 did not drive in a manner that was unsafe or adversely affected any other driver. While the driver did exceed the delta time on his dash, it appears that the majority of the time was due to a set-up error.

“The stewards found that the regulation was breached and ordered a reprimand.”

Sirotkin’s driving reprimand is the first he has received this season. Any driver who received three repriands is handed an automatic 10-place grid penalty.

The stewards are also investigating whether Kevin Magnussen committed the same offence later in the session. No investigation was announced into the incident between Sirotkin and Lewis Hamilton, where the Williams driver went off the track after catching Hamilton at the end of an out-lap.

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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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6 comments on “Sirotkin reprimanded for slow driving following “set-up error””

    1. Its no irony if those same set of tires from Q1 were to used again for Q2 meaning he drove slowly to save those tires.

      This raises a question, do the teams have to pay for their tires.
      And would this lead to them saving costs by reusing spent tires?

      I’ve always taken it for granted that they have the same number of types, where the only choice is the types of tire they choise way in advance of the races.

      1. They do have the same number of tyres and no, they don’t save tyres in that way.

        And it is irony.

  1. Drove too slow on his cool-down lap, drove ~200 km/h faster on his outlap… so, on average he drove at the right speed, correct? That’s how maths works, right? :-)

  2. Very surprised that McLaren drivers haven’t been reprimanded for this reason.

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