Robert Kubica, Williams, Interlagos, 2019

Kubica given penalty points for Verstappen pit lane incident

2019 F1 season

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Daniel Ricciardo and Robert Kubica were each given two penalty points on their licenses for incidents they were involved in during the Brazilian Grand Prix. Both drivers also received five-second time penalties during the race.

Kubica was involved in a pit lane incident with eventual race-winner Max Verstappen. The stewards ruled Williams released Kubica in good time but he got away slowly and strayed into the path of the Red Bull driver, forcing him to slow.

The stewards explained the reasoning for Kubica’s penalty: “Car 33 [Verstappen] had completed its pit stop and was driving down the pit lane in the fast lane. Car 88 [Kubica] was completing its stop.

“The stewards determined that the team of car 88 released car 88 before car 33 reached the guide boards, and the stewards determined that the time of the release by the team was appropriate.

“However, car 88 was slow to depart its pit stop location and then when car 33 was already alongside, swerved towards the fast lane and car 33 had to swerve towards the pit wall and slow to avoid a collision. The stewards therefore determined that this was an – Unsafe Release from a pit stop where the driver is at fault – and ordered a five second penalty on car 88.”

Ricciardo was judged responsible for his collision with Kevin Magnussen early in the race. The stewards judged he was principally to blame for the collision.

“Approaching turn four car three [Ricciardo] moved to the inside of car 20 [Magnussen] to attempt a pass. At the apex of the corner, car three had a slight lock-up of the left-front which caused him to understeer and a collision ensued at the exit of the corner. The stewards determined that car three was predominantly at fault.”

Ricciardo’s team mate was also given a five-second time penalty, and a single penalty point on his licence, for overtaking Kevin Magnussen during a Safety Car period.

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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 “Kubica given penalty points for Verstappen pit lane incident”

  1. Again, you shouldn’t blame the driver, not that it matters much in the scheme of things.
    But you can wonder, with how Verstappen lost over two seconds in the middle sector of that lap and didn’t pass Kubica until the pits, how (un)willing the Williams were to let past Verstappen under blue flags. And that, what with the engines in the Williams, makes me slightly conspiracy-y at times.

    1. That’s what I thought until I read the reasoning for the penalty.

      1. @coldfly pardon. You’re right. Second part of the comment still works ;-)

      2. For anyone thinking this is fair reasoning, here’s the onboard of Kubica being too slow

        https://streamable.com/afidb

        1. How’s that too slow?

        2. Indeed, I can’t see how he was slow.
          The front right wheel guys were slow, but Kubica seemed to react and accelerate fast.

    2. Can’t blame the driver? He can just slow down and let Verstappen past, can’t he? (Why aren’t there blue flags in the pit lane anyway?) Instead Max almost got slammed into the wall. Extremely dodgy considering his pit-stop fight with a Mercedes car and in general just unsportspersonlike to interfere at all with the front racers like that, hints of 2018.

      Kubica can breathe a sigh of relief Verstappen did win the race in the end.

  2. What a super lame decision. Why penalize Kubica when the team releases him at the wrong time. The driver can’t see the other car, $$ penalty for Williams.

    1. Because Kubica couldn’r drive fast enough out of his pitbox. As the ruling clearly states, Williams released him in time, he was just too slow to drive away.

      Being too slow seems to be the flavour of the season with poor RK.

      1. Kubica did not see verstappen. The fia ruling is just stupid and wrong. Kubica can not avoid cars he doesn’t know about because he can’t see them.

  3. Strange decision. Remember 2019 German GP and a “huge” 5000 euro penalty for Ferrari and no penalty points for Leclerc. For more:
    https://www.racefans.net/2019/08/01/ferraris-fine-for-leclercs-unsafe-release-raises-concerns/
    FIA race director Michael Masi insisted the decision to fine just Ferrari was “quite clearly consistent with previous penalties”….

    1. Remember Monaco? Max had pushed Bottas into wall damaging Bottas’s race. I dont recall max getting Penalty points for that incident.

      1. @Chaitanya
        He got 2 points, but hey, it’s you, so no one is surprised you have no recollection of that fact!
        Did you enjoy yesterday’s race…….xD
        https://www.givemesport.com/1478428-max-verstappen-receives-two-points-on-his-licence-for-valtteri-bottas-incident-in-monaco

  4. A penalty was definitely needed but it shouldn’t be one that reflects Kubicas driving, he wasn’t to blame at all.

  5. It seems most commenters didn’t read the article ;)

    1. That’s not how the internet works and you know it! We only read the headlines and then react as we see fit. Often irrational. 😉

  6. Why was Ricciardo penalized? He made a late move, but Magnussen just turned in on him.

  7. Watch onboard and tell how faster could he be? Joke. https://twitter.com/dkk_skyblueone/status/1196162874198167552

  8. too little too late. 1 race to go before he is gone and soon forgotten.

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