Formula 3 Nikola Tsolov was given a three-place grid drop for tomorrow’s sprint race after causing a rival to crash into a barrier during practice.
The ART driver made contact with Alex Dunne of rivals MP at the flat-out right-hand kink approaching the sharp right hand corner of turn 11.The incident occured with just over three minutes remaining in the single, 45-minute practice session for F3 drivers. Tsolov, who was 10th-fastest at the time and on a flying lap, arrived on the tail of Dunne, who appeared to be weaving to warm his tyres between runs.
Dunne appeared unaware of Tsolov looming in his mirrors and the ART driver backed off. As the track straightened out, Tsolov then drew along the left-hand side of his rival and swerved right.
The pair made contact and Dunne’s car was pushed to the right, striking the barrier. The impact broke the front-right suspension and front wing on the MP driver’s machine.
While Tsolov drove back to his garage, Dunne was unable to return to the pits and pulled his car to a stop off the circuit at the inside of turn 11. That triggered an early end to the session, which was red-flagged so the car could be recovered, with too little time available to resume running.
After speaking to the drivers, the stewards said Dunne was “unaware of the approach” of Tsolov behind him and “was not actively looking in his mirrors for any approaching cars and apologised for the lapse.” Dunne was reprimanded for impeding Tsolov.
Regarding the collision, the stewards accepted Tsolov’s explanation that he did not intend to collide with Dunne.
“Car 25 [Tsolov] stated that his lap was affected by car nine [Dunne] and he wanted the driver to be aware of his presence and that he was being impeded. Car 25 deviated from his normal racing line to drive close to car nine to highlight his presence. He unfortunately misjudged this action and collided with car nine.
“Having considered the matter extensively, the stewards determined the actions of car 25, while unintended, caused the collision that was completely avoidable. The stewards, therefore, impose a grid drop in accordance with previous precedents.”
In addition to his three-place grid penalty, Tsolov was also given two penalty points on his licence, his first this year.
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AlanD
22nd March 2024, 2:48
Assuming the report is telling the whole story, the best spin you can put on this is that Tsolov was trying to send the message “what were you doing, weaving like this?” but totally misjudged it and totally unintentionally made contact and pushed Dunne into the wall. That’s the best spin I can think of, and even with that, you can’t condone Tsolov’s actions, and are left wondering, if it was truly accidental, does he have the driving skills and judgement needed for this level of competition? Thankfully, motor sport rarely sees outright acts of aggression on the track.
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd March 2024, 8:39
Yeah, I would really like to see the sport take far clearer action to make sure that no driver even thinks of doing this. A 3 place grid penalty seems incredibly underwhelming as a deterrent.
AlanD
22nd March 2024, 12:24
A three place penalty? Yes, that feels like a slap on the wrist. The penalty hadn’t been announced when I first read the story. In football, for instance, even the lightest slap or kick can earn an instant red card, and most sports are intolerant of aggression outside of the competitive context. You would think motor racing, where the potential consequences are so much greater, would dish out the harshest of penalties.
Tomcat173 (@tomcat173)
22nd March 2024, 2:49
Absolutely ridiculous incident to have. Tsolov looked like he got blocked pretty badly as he came up behind Dunne.. but the move following it seems like it was deliberate and very dangerous even at relatively low speeds. Hope he gets the book thrown at him.
Yellow Baron
22nd March 2024, 4:55
Why is it surprising? Pretty self explanatory bearing in mind some of the antics from drivers like max and pastor over the years and then the fia’s subsequent inaction.
Danny Williams
22nd March 2024, 7:53
Not to mention Seb actually choosing to crash into another car under safety car running, and the following lack of repercussions that followed.
I have no issue with Vettel, I had an issue with that behaviour. And with the (lack) of response.
Seems a race ban would have been more appropriate here, even if there was no intention of a collision. Swerving towards, but lacking the skill to ensure you don’t collide? No thanks.
MichaelN
22nd March 2024, 11:24
Yeah, as much as I want(ed) Ferrari to win, that’s not the way to do it. The stop and go penalty Vettel got was very harsh in comparison to other penalties, but if ever there was a recent example of a clear DSQ that would be it. He really let himself and the team down in that moment.
Yellow Baron
23rd March 2024, 13:58
Especially considering Romain got a ban for a mistake. Or collection whichever way you look at it. But vettels was clearly intentional and under safety car.
Mayrton
22nd March 2024, 12:50
The only clear cut more recent incidents that come to mind are Vettel on Lewis in Baku and Ocon on Max in Brasil (Schumacher on Hill bit more in the past..) Race ban should have been the minimum. Seriously, the minimum. DSQ from the championship end results would be more suited. Intent is the crucial word here. The intent was clear cut in Vettel and Ocon case. Somehow they have managed to take away the intent in this particular situation. Didn’t see it, so can’t really judge it.
hje
22nd March 2024, 22:42
Wait, when did you see Ocon INTENTIONALLY CRASHING into Verstappen in Brazil? What are you smoking?
AlanD
22nd March 2024, 12:32
I’ve just watched a reply of the incident and it is far more blatant than I imagined. I imagined it being a bit like the Vettel Hamilton incident from a few years back, with the two cars relatively close together and an attempt at a bit of low speed wheel banging, but having seen it, it is such a blatant lunge and at speed. Shocking that it was done at all, more shocking that the stewards treated it so lightly. They were probably thinking more about how keeping him in would be good for the TV ratings.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
22nd March 2024, 3:59
Well, he’d have been pretty aware of your presence if you just drove past him. How completely unnecessary. Surely a deliberate act like this needs a more severe penalty. Exclusion from qualifying at the very least.
Yellow Baron
22nd March 2024, 4:56
Why is it surprising? Pretty self explanatory bearing in mind some of the antics from drivers like max and pastor over the years and then the fia’s subsequent inaction.
Derek Edwards
22nd March 2024, 6:41
It looks like a completely intentional swipe and he basically drove into Dunne. I’m amazed that he only got a three place grid drop. What kind of deterrent is that meant to be?
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
22nd March 2024, 11:31
Agreed, very lenient penalty and quite naive if the stewards simply chose to believe his explanation that it was not intentional. Even if not intentional, the massive misjudgement would warrant a larger penalty. Not sure what the rules are in F3, but in F1 if you put your opponent into the wall hard enough, they could damage their gearbox and/or other components and suffer a much larger grid drop than 3 places, not to mention the additional work and cost to the team. This slap on the wrist is essentially a green light for retaliatory, dangerous and unsportsmanlike driving.
Retired (@jeff1s)
22nd March 2024, 7:05
Just watched the replay on F1TV and clearly that an F1 game live lobby move. A shove to the side so to terminate your rival. Eventually, your engineer either ask you to bring the car to the garage, but you’re in the effin wall.
Retired (@jeff1s)
22nd March 2024, 7:14
All in all, it’s an incindent worthy of a reputation : Ferrucci, Mazepin and so on…
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
22nd March 2024, 7:38
I cannot possibly believe he is allowed to continue this weekend. The very least is an immediate race ban for me. Does the rules still allow that, or can they only be banned by reaching 12 points?
MichaelN
22nd March 2024, 8:56
A disqualification and race ban is definitely possible. He could even be barred from further participation.
All of which seem like a good idea. Keep this nonsense on Xbox.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
22nd March 2024, 12:45
Quite shocked this was all the punishment he got, it seemed pretty clear he deliberately hit his rival.
oweng (@oweng)
22nd March 2024, 13:52
I’ll add my outrage to the rest of the comments. Appalling decision to give this the same penalty you’d give someone for accidental impeding in qualifying. It was a deliberate action and you have to be incredibly generous to accept the explanation that he didn’t mean to hit him.
It’s no surprise though, it’s happened several times in F1 where drivers have taken matters into their own hands and been pretty open about it only for it to go unpunished.
Are we going to have to wait until someone is injured in a serious accident before stewards will start dealing with these sort of actions with representative penalties? Should have been thrown out of the rest of the weekend at least.
floodo1 (@floodo1)
22nd March 2024, 13:56
Please include the videos so ppl can see how egregious this incident was. Being blocked in no way justifies pulling a Vettel but at high speeds
Alesici
22nd March 2024, 15:01
Outrageous decision. And imbecilic reasoning backing it up.
They were very lucky they didn’t properly tangle and both spear hard right into the angled access road wall.
Are these the same stewards as are used in F1? Are they the same stewards who thought Norris didn’t jump the last start? The stewarding has taken a sharp nosedive recently.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd March 2024, 15:31
Some of these stewards have also worked on F1 races previously, but they don’t do F1 and F2/F3 in the same weekend.
Alesici
23rd March 2024, 19:20
Thanks Keith. It was a genuine question, so I appreciate the insightful answer.
João
22nd March 2024, 19:57
For me, exclusion from the championship table and 6 months suspension.
f1alex (@f1alex)
22nd March 2024, 20:41
I feel like penalties in general are way more lenient than they used to be, but deliberate contact even moreso than anythng else. Using your car as a weapon should be a one way ticket to being thrown out of the event, regardless of the circumstances. Shoving other drivers into the wall shows you have absolutely no understanding or regard to the dangers of motorsport at this level, where actual human lives are at stake, and therefore should suffer the most severe consequences. Giving the most minor grid penalty available is a pretty flaccid response and sends the message that it’s actually not that bad to drive the car as a weapon, if you’ve been wronged feel free to do whatever you want.
I really hope young drivers don’t see this and take it as an example, as I think any unneccessary contact (i.e. any contact outside of direct racing conditions) should be dealt with in the harshest possible way.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
22nd March 2024, 21:15
a lot like the Stewart-Ward clash. One hot head decides to scare his opponent, while the other is none the aware.
should be a back of the grid at a minimum, but he didn’t pull his punch so hes definitely guilty of running Alex in to the wall intentionally. If a driver wants to do that and risk being dangerous, at least pull your punch so you don’t actually hit your opponent. Max running in to Lewis at Monza was also in that vein. Max should have been shown the back of the grid in the next race. But a lot like MotoGP, the stewards want a ‘good race’ even if it’s not correct.