Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Spa-Francorchamps, 2022

F1 stewards clarify grid drop rules following ‘unprecedented’ Leclerc penalties

2022 Belgian Grand Prix

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The Belgian Grand Prix stewards have issued a clarification explaining why Charles Leclerc will be made to start from the back of the grid following a series of accumulated grid penalties.

A total of six drivers – Leclerc plus Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon, Mick Schumacher and Zhou Guanyu – have been sent to the back of the grid for tomorrow’s race after collecting more than 15 places of grid penalties due to exceeding their power unit component or gearbox allowance for the 2022 season.

Under Article 28.3 of the Sporting Regulations, any driver who incurs “a penalty exceeding 15 grid places.. will be required to start the race from the back of the starting grid.” All five drivers exceeded enough allocated components in the same single action, ensuring that they breached the 15 place drop threshold that condemned them to the back of the grid.

Leclerc was not among those originally issued a ‘back of the grid’ penalty yesterday, despite collecting a total grid drop of 20 places on Friday. He received a 15 place penalty after Ferrari installed a fifth MGU-K and a third energy store of the season on his car for first practice. Following that penalty, Ferrari then changed his control electronics to a new third unit, which once again breached his allocation and earned another five-place grid penalty.

Initially, despite Leclerc accumulating a total penalty of 20 places, the stewards did not rule that he would be made to start from the back of the grid. The consequences of this were potentially significant for the championship, as it meant Leclerc stood to start the race in front of Verstappen.

However, the stewards today ruled that Leclerc has earned the full penalty to see him start from the back of the grid as with Verstappen, Norris, Ocon, Schumacher and Zhou. They clarified their interpretation that the regulation should consider the total value of grid places penalised across multiple actions over a race weekend.

“As car 16 [Leclerc] has accumulated 20 grid place penalties (documents 14 and 31) for this competition under article 28.3 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, this is in excess of the 15 permitted under the regulation and therefore the car will be required to start the race from the back of the starting grid,” explained the stewards.

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“The stewards consider this to be the logical conclusion reading article 28.3. However, it is possible to interpret it differently. The third paragraph of article 28.3 states that ‘if a driver incurs a penalty exceeding 15 grid places, [they] will be required to start the race from the back of the starting grid’. The stewards published a decision (document 14) which imposed a fifteen grid penalty. The competitor subsequently changed the control electronics and the stewards published a separate decision (document 31) imposing a five grid place penalty.

“This exact situation has not happened since this rule was put in place in 2018. The wording of the sentence is singular ‘a penalty’ and neither document imposed more than 15 grid places. So it could be interpreted that this does not trigger a ‘back of grid’ penalty. However, the first paragraph of the regulation states that ‘penalties will be applied according the following table and will be cumulative’ (in each competition).”

Using this logic, the stewards argue that exceeding 15 places over multiple actions in a weekend should be considered as triggering the back of the grid penalty and drew comparisons to super licence penalty points collected over multiple rounds of a season.

“There are other instances in the regulations where penalties accumulate over time (such as penalty points) which accumulate until they trigger a separate decision provided for in the regulations. This is similar,” the stewards argued.

“It is important to note that the ‘start the race from the back of the starting grid’ penalty is fully embedded in article 28 (power unit usage), was specifically introduced in response to nonsensically high grid penalties from PU [power unit] changes, and has never been used to accumulate grid penalties imposed from other articles of the regulations. It should be read holistically as part of Article 28.3 and does not refer to other articles.

“This explanation is provided as this is first time this situation has occurred and this is a precedent.”

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Ferrari subsequently fitted further fresh parts to Leclerc’s power unit on Sunday, which were sufficient to trigger a second ‘back of the grid’ penalty.

Valtteri Bottas will also be penalised 20 places on the grid following this afternoon’s qualifying session: 15 places for exceeding power unit components and a further five places for exceeding gearbox allocations. However, as he has not exceeded the 15 place threshold for power unit penalties, he will start ahead of the six drivers moved to the back of the grid for tomorrow’s race.

Belgian Grand Prix grid penalties so far

Bottas: 15-place grid drop for exceeding maximum number of power unit components and five-place grid drop for exceeding limit on restricted-number components (the stewards originally announced a 10-place grid drop but later reduced it to five)
Zhou: Start at the back of the grid due to exceeding maximum number of power unit components and 10-place grid drop for exceeding limit on restricted-number components
Schumacher: Start at the back of the grid due to exceeding maximum number of power unit components and 10-place grid drop for exceeding limit on restricted-number components
Leclerc: Start at the back of the grid due to exceeding maximum number of power unit components (issued twice for two separate infringements) and 10-place grid drop for exceeding limit on restricted-number components
Ocon: Start at the back of the grid due to exceeding maximum number of power unit components
Norris: Start at the back of the grid due to exceeding maximum number of power unit components (issued twice for two separate infringements)
Verstappen: Start at the back of the grid due to exceeding maximum number of power unit components (issued twice for two separate infringements) and five-place grid drop for exceeding limit on restricted-number components

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2022 Belgian Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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8 comments on “F1 stewards clarify grid drop rules following ‘unprecedented’ Leclerc penalties”

  1. I guess it was good they cleared this up?

    1. Yeah, and given this is the first time and there’s a lot of permutations, I guess it warrants that.

  2. Not complicated enough … four-dimensional Excel spreadsheet ….

  3. So what will be the starting order now among these drivers that all have to start at the back of the grid?

    1. Sorted by Highest time in qualifying.

      In case they don’t set a time in qualifying, then whoever reaches the pit lane entry first in that session of qualifying where they didn’t set a time.

      1. *best, not highest

  4. Reading all that holistically, Verstappen should start from the back because of showbiz, Bottas should start from 16th in a 2021 Mercedes and Zhou should be somewhere near the back in an F2 car.

    1. I agree

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