Why stewards praised an F2 driver as they cleared him of speeding under VSC

The Formula 2 stewards have explained why they took no action against a driver who failed to reduce his speed sufficiently under Virtual Safety Car conditions.

MP driver Jehan Daruvala was found to have lapped below the minimum time in five consecutive mini-sectors when the Virtual Safety Car was deployed during yesterday’s sprint race at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Speeding under VSC and Safety Car conditions ordinarily attracts a penalty. However the stewards noted Daruvala had to cope with a sudden loss of data on his car’s display, which meant he did not know how slowly he was supposed to drive. When Daruvala’s display was working, he complied with the rules.

“The stewards determine that car two (Daruvala) failed to satisfy the required minimum time for five consecutive sectors. The stewards note that car two had previously been in full compliance with the time requirements for all preceding sectors during both the Safety Car period and the preceding Virtual Safety Car period. He also remained in full compliance after the six corners at issue

“The driver stated that in the vicinity of turn four he lost the delta information on his dash and
that it did not return until turn nine.”

When Daruvala lost the information from his car’s display, he decided to keep a constant gap to the car ahead of him, driven by Isack Hadjar. The stewards stressed they were impressed how accurately Daruvala was able to do this. However as Hadjar was being given a different target time to Daruvala, the MP driver was found to have lapped too quickly.

“[Daruvala] explained that at that point he made the decision to maintain the gap to car 10 Hadjar in front since that was the only reference he had. The stewards note that based on the VSC matrix and examination of the track map, car two did an incredibly precise job of maintaining the time gap to car 10 over this interval. Data overlay analysis provided by the technical director confirmed this as well.

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“Unfortunately for car two, car 10 had the benefit of a time surplus when car two began matching his pace. Car 10 ultimately sped up as he was entitled to do given his surplus and when car two sped up to maintain the gap he found himself falling below the minimum required times since he did not enjoy the cushion of a similar surplus.”

However the stewards were satisfied Daruvala had taken reasonable steps to ensure he complied with the rules and decided not to issue a penalty.

“Given the concentration required to manage the gap to the extent that he did, the stewards accept the driver’s statement that he lost the display and chose to follow the leading car.

“The stewards note that in the middle of a VSC period the purpose of meeting the minimum time requirements is a matter of safety. Given that car two was being driven in the exact same manner as car 10, the stewards do not find that it was being driven in an inherently unsafe manner notwithstanding the fact that the VSC matrix indicated an infraction in these sectors. The stewards note his significant and prompt correction when his display resumed functioning and his ultimate compliance with the required deltas.

“Accordingly, the stewards elect to take no further action. The teams should note that only the driver’s incredibly precise maintenance of the gap under these conditions permitted the stewards to conclude that it was appropriate for them to excuse the failure to meet the requirements of Article 40.7 of the Sporting Regulations.”

In an unrelated matter also before the stewards, MP’s attempt to protest rivals Van Amersfoort was thrown out as they failed to pay the required deposit in time.

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Teams are required to pay €2,000 (£1,722) to the FIA in order to make a protest. MP initially sent their payment to the Spanish automobile club, the Real Federacion Espanola de Automovillismo. They subsequently paid the required amount in cash to the FIA, but this was received after the deadline for receipt.

“The initial deposit is a bank transfer to the Spanish ASN, not the FIA as required,” the stewards ruled. “It is insufficient on its face to satisfy the requirement of accompanying the deposit.

“The supplemental deposit was in the correct amount and was delivered to the FIA. However, it did not accompany the deposit but was received after the fact.

“The stewards note that article 13.3.5 of the ISC provides an exception to the 30-minute time limit in circumstances where the stewards consider that compliance with the 30-minute time limit would be impossible. The stewards consider it to be fundamentally fair to apply that same exception to the deposit that is required to accompany the protest.

“The question is, ‘was it impossible to have provided €2,000 at the time the protest was filed?’ While the team may not have been in current possession of €2,000, that does not make possession of such an amount impossible.

“It is reasonably foreseeable that participation in the championship might put a team in a position where it desires to file a protest. Given the tight timelines associated with a protest, it would be prudent for a team to ensure that it has the necessary cash on hand at all times for such a contingency.

“A lack of planning does not constitute an impossibility of payment. The stewards conclude that providing the supplemental deposit simultaneously with the filing the protest was not an impossibility, but rather a lack of present capacity which could have been avoided through planning.

“Accordingly, the protest is rejected as inadmissible on account of the lack of timely and correct payment of the protest deposit to the FIA.”

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