Stroll avoids penalty over “far from ideal” pit lane blunder

RaceFans Round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: Lance Stroll avoided a penalty for an unusual error before the start of today’s United States Grand Prix.

In brief

Stroll dodges penalty for pit mix-up

Stroll, one of four drivers who was due to start Sunday’s race from the pit lane, drove to the grid by mistake. Although the stewards were unimpressed with his error, they concluded he could not be penalised as he had not committed a breach of the rules.

“After completing his reconnaissance laps, the driver of car 18 [Stroll] did not proceed to the pit lane directly, but missed the pit entry and continued on track until he arrived at the end of the starting grid despite being required to start the race from the pit lane,” the stewards noted. “The car was then pushed back to the pits by the team on skates.

“The stewards note that the scenario caused by the incident was far from ideal. However, having reviewed the matter in detail, although the established process was not followed, no breach of any regulation was evident.”

Stroll had a more successful day from there on, finishing ninth to score his first points since the summer break.

Edgar takes maiden win in F1 Academy finale

Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free

Jessica Edgar secured her maiden F1 Academy victory by winning the final race of the season at the Circuit of the Americas. The Carlin driver led from the start for her fourth podium of the season in the all-female category, which debuted in 2023.

She finished 2.6 seconds ahead of Nerea Marti with championship winner Marta Garcia completing the podium, after she lost second place to Marti at the race start.

Antonelli makes Prema champions in FREC

A last-lap pass by Formula Regional European champion Andrea Kimi Antonelli on Nikhil Bohra for sixth place secured the teams’ title for Prema at the Hockenheimring. They denied R-ace GP by two points, who scored a one-two finish in the season-closer with Martinius Stenshorne and Tim Tramnitz.

First title for McLaren’s Ugochukwu

McLaren junior driver Ugo Ugochukwu clinched the inaugural Euro 4 championship at Circuit de Catalunya. He won the final race by half a second ahead of McLaren-affiliated driver Brando Badoer and Ferrari junior Tuukka Taponen.

Hauger to leave Red Bull

Dennis Hauger has confirmed he will no longer be part of the Red Bull Junior Team next year. The Formula 2 driver was first backed by the team in 2018 and since then has won the Italian Formula 4 title and, in 2021, the FIA Formula 3 series.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Social media

Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Comment of the day

Liberty Media is playing the long game with a plan to introduce reverse-grid sprint races, reckons Alan:

Reverse grids, I suspect, were and remain the ultimate goal of the sprint race introduction.

You introduce fans to the concept slowly. People are far more likely to accept radical change if you do it in small stages.

Now people are calling for reverse grids who otherwise would’ve been opposed.
Alan Dove

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Manatcna!

On this day in motorsport

  • 40 years ago today Teo Fabi kept his championship hopes alive by winning the penultimate round of the CART season at Laguna Seca ahead of Mario Andretti and Chip Ganassi, the latter scoring his best IndyCar result as a driver.

Author information

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

9 comments on “Stroll avoids penalty over “far from ideal” pit lane blunder”

  1. Profile Photo

    Leroy (@g-funk)
    23rd October 2023, 2:59

    “Far from ideal” could be the title of the book about Lance.

    1. Jimmy Cliff
      23rd October 2023, 11:15

      Brilliant and funny comment – indeed perfect summary for Lance Stroll’s F1 career

    2. Profile Photo

      Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
      23rd October 2023, 11:55

      The follow-up could be called ‘Daaaaaaad!!!

  2. Profile Photo

    Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
    23rd October 2023, 6:26

    Please allow me to assist the stewards in their enquiry:

    Article 34.8 of the Sporting Regulations: With the exception of the reconnaissance laps permitted by Articles 43.2 and 44.1, any driver that is required to start the sprint session or the race from the pit lane may not drive his car from his competitors designated garage area until the pit lane exit is closed.

    (These cover the permission to do a reconnaisance lap after leaving the pits – something all drivers starting on the grid have to do to reach the grid).

    Article 43.2 contains: At the end of this lap all cars starting the sprint session from the grid should stop on the grid in starting order with their engines stopped. All drivers going to the pit exit at this time must do so at a constant speed and with constant throttle.

    Lance was on the grid and (not being entitled to take a grid start) evidently wasn’t in grid order. If he was stopped on the grid, he clearly was not on constant throttle (there’d also be a question of doing the reconnaissance lap in a naturalistic way, but there’s enough counter-precedent of non-penalisation to prevent that interpretation).

    Lance Stroll’s grid appearance was not compatible with the reconnaissance laps permitted by Articles 43.2 or 44.1, he did so before the pit lane exit was closed ahead of the start sequence, thus by definition he did not comply with Article 34.8.

  3. Profile Photo

    Jere (@jerejj)
    23rd October 2023, 7:25

    I only heard Checo chants during the Dutch anthem.

    1. Profile Photo

      MacLeod (@macleod)
      23rd October 2023, 7:30

      So Max will lap Checo in Mexico ??? It’s never good to get Max upset he is only driving faster then.

  4. Profile Photo

    Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
    23rd October 2023, 8:27

    I’m still not sure how much of the booing was actually directed at Max. Governor Abbott was on the podium and his name was announced just before Max was handed the trophy, so I thought the boos were for him.

    1. Jimmy Cliff
      23rd October 2023, 11:20

      Well given that based on spectators reporting that booing mainly came from Mexicans and that during the Dutch national Anthym they were shouting “Checo” it would be fair to assume it was directed at Max.

      Fairly sure the Mexcicans also dislike Governor Abbott but guess we will find out next week if Max makes it on the podium and Checo not if it was Max or Governor Abbott that inspired the vocal enthusiasm of the crowd.

  5. Profile Photo

    Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
    23rd October 2023, 10:54

    Would have liked to see the “team on skates” pushing his car back to the pitlane. All good for the show…
    Not much different (worse because it’s a more obvious error) from Hulkenberg starting a row too far forward in Qatar after Sainz didn’t make the start.

Comments are closed.