Charles Leclerc has kept his third place on the grid despite being penalised for an infringement during qualifying.
The Ferrari driver was found to have rejoined the track in an incorrect fashion after going off at turn nine.
The stewards ruled Leclerc “rejoined the track safely, recognised his error and aborted his lap in order not to gain a sporting advantage”. The lap time he set was deleted, which does not affect his qualifying position.
The stewards noted that “had this incident occurred during the race a time penalty would have been imposed.”
Kevin Magnussen and Lando Norris both escaped penalties for failing to rejoin the track in the correct manner during practice.
Leclerc qualified third but was more than six-tenths of a second slower than team mate Sebastian Vettel. He admitted he has still has room to improve how he refines his car during qualifying. “This is a point I need to work on, to try to set up the car, especially for Q3,” he said.
“In Q1, the car felt quite good – then Q2 a bit worse and then Q3 it slipped away and I also did some mistakes. So I need to understand from where it comes to just try to anticipate the track evolution and have the car at its best in Q3.”
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[TR]
9th June 2019, 0:30
I heard more than one steward had to be rushed to the medical centre for severe damage to their digits, on account of all the finger wagging. The human body just isn’t built for such strenuous action!
Andy Bunting (@wildbiker)
9th June 2019, 5:40
Sensible & just, steward’s decision for once!
Imre (@f1mre)
9th June 2019, 6:11
After all these years I still find it ridiculous that they rather paint a “do not cross line” instead of putting a physical thing there (or a very abrasive asphalt/surface) to prevent drivers from crossing the run-off areas and gain an advantage.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th June 2019, 7:24
@f1mre There are safety reasons behind not putting a physical obstructives on run-off areas, and that’s in case of something such as a brake failure. You can only play with safety so much.
Imre (@f1mre)
9th June 2019, 7:36
I understand this part. But I find it hard to believe that there is no safe solution other than painting lines. Isn’t there a tarmac or material that destroys the surface of the tires immediately? That would also slow the car down, punish the driver yet it is completely safe. Or put very light materials in the middle of chicanes. If someone collides with them, nothing happens to the driver but there is no advantage gained for sure. Although the downside may be it is expensive to replace all the time and once it has been hit, there is no more obstacles left. Or anything else, I don’t have any expertise with engineering.
anon
9th June 2019, 9:33
@f1mre, there are some venues – Paul Ricard and Abu Dhabi – which do use a high friction paint to discourage drivers from going off track by causing increased wear.
One of the aspects that does tend to be overlooked is that you also have to consider what is safe for the marshals if they have to enter that run off area to collect a car – putting additional hazards there could make the job of recovering a vehicle harder for them.