Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Silverstone, 2020

Grosjean given warning for “potentially dangerous” weaving

2020 British Grand Prix

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Romain Grosjean has been given a formal warning by the stewards of the British Grand Prix for weaving during the race.

The Haas driver was shown the black-and-white flag during the race for changing his line under braking while battling with Carlos Sainz Jnr. The stewards also investigated a similar incident between Grosjean and Daniel Ricciardo.

“Moving under braking when another car is approaching has been identified by the drivers as a very dangerous manoeuvre,” the stewards noted.

They spoke to the drivers involved and Ricciardo conceded the situation was “manageable” by him.

“Grosjean explained that in both cases his moves were before the braking zone,
although in the second case, it was closer,” said the stewards. “When it was put to the drivers that these were late moves in relation to the approaching car, or ‘movement in reaction’, and also potentially dangerous, they agreed on this as a general principal. Ricciardo agreed that this situation, while close, was manageable by him as the following driver.

“The stewards issued a warning, with the admonition that late movement in reaction to
drivers following is also considered potentially dangerous and will be scrutinised by the stewards.”

The formal warning, a recent addition to F1’s range of sanctions, does not include any penalty points.

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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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13 comments on “Grosjean given warning for “potentially dangerous” weaving”

  1. As we see yet again, the black and white flag means absolutely nothing.

    1. As it should on this case. Racing isn’t condoned by the fia it seems. A few years ago, Max would end up all races blacked flagged.

      1. Can’t see how these were different to what Max was doing a few years back and everyone thinks he’s a genius..!

      2. Lol max did it at every race in 2016 and the stewards did nothing to punish him

      3. Well then don’t show the flag in the first place then! Lol. @peartree

  2. Given that he was shown the black and white flag, didn’t know what it was for, and continued to drive in the same way afterwards, I would say not giving a penalty was extremely generous of the stewards. He doesn’t understand the rules of racing and since there was no consequences, he will probably continue to drive like this in future.

    They shouldn’t focus so much attention on whether he’s moving in the braking zone, because that is usually obvious. What he was doing today was waiting for the attacking driver to commit, then half-heartedly moving in that direction to defend. That is very dangerous when done at these high speeds and he should have been penalised.

  3. I really don’t understand it. They brought back the black and white flag as warning, but here the guy does it again and nothing happens?

    Baffling, as usual these days with the stewards. It doesn’t matter that Riccardo for it “manageable”, it was dangerous.

    What’s the point of the black and white flag then ??

  4. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    2nd August 2020, 18:13

    Did anyone notice Stroll also got the black and white flag? I think that this year they seem to have chanced their approach and bring it out more often. In past years, (even with a driver i like – Bottas), when ricciardo dived down the inside, and Bottas moved towards him in the braking zone. he actually did this twice, but also admittedly opened the steering both times. I didn’t think this was enough for a black and white flag and it didn’t get one. Grosjean i can sort of agree he wasn’t really in the braking zone, and he did leave space. I get the point that it was sudden and potentially dangerous, but I don’t think it was enough to get a penalty so I think a clear cut warning is enough myself. But they certainly didn’t bring use this flag anywhere near as much over the past few years when drivers did very similar moves. And I’m not going back as far as spa that year Verstappen brought in a new rule. it has been more recent than that.

  5. I think in this case they should have reintroduced the black flag..

  6. This is a bad precedent to set. The drivers he did it to know it was wrong, the stewards know it was wrong, and the TV commentators who are former drivers know it’s wrong.

    But the precedent has been set that you’ll get a warning, then even if you do it again nothing will happen. There are some drivers who will happily dance over that line if it keeps them a position in future. Second time he did it should have been an in race penalty and points on his license. It’s dangerous and this amounts to no actual consequence for it.

    1. Maybe the head of the GPDA will put it on the next meeting agenda for discussion @philipgb

  7. Whats crazy is he knew he was getting passed anyways so was it just him being completely unaware

  8. I didn’t see any moving “under breaking”…he was moving PRIOR TO braking both times….and both times were nothing. This is simply racing, and it shows the bias against Haas and the smaller teams…the larger teams whine and moan out there, because they don’t want to be delayed behind a lesser team’s car. TOO BAD..figure out how to pass. It’s FAR TOO BORING if all the lesser teams do is pull way over and not try and defend which is all Grosjean was doing. Bottom Line: Grosjean was not at fault in either case…both just simply racing and it happens dozens of times every race – the larger teams are simply not called on it.

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