Autobayng News Team
Charles Leclerc and George Russell avoided penalties for the incident between the pair of them during the Dutch Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver attacked his rival on the outside as they headed into the Hans Ernst Bocht after a Virtual Safety Car restart. After hanging around the outside of the sharp turn 11, Leclerc appeared to leave the track on the inside of turn 12 before rejoining in front of Russell.
That was how Russell saw it: “He was off the track, surely?” he asked his race engineer as he chased after his rival. Leclerc was dismissive on his radio: “Turn 11, 12, he doesn’t leave a space. He cannot complain.”
Shortly afterwards the stewards announced they would investigate the incident. However, while they passed down decisions on other incidents promptly, they decided this one could wait until after the race.
But a significant detail appeared on the timing screens at around the same time. Race control deleted Leclerc’s lap time from the 32nd tour, noting he had indeed exceeded the track limits at turn 12 – when he passed Russell.
This was confirmed after the race in document 54, which listed eight lap times deleted for track limits infringements during the race. Two of these were Leclerc’s and one of those was for leaving the track at turn 12 on lap 32.
The stewards summoned Leclerc and Russell to investigate whether either was responsible for the collision between them. The contact damaged Russell’s car, which he said cost him half a second per lap.
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The stewards noted that “both drivers felt that this was a racing incident and that there should be no further consequence to either driver for the incident” and added “we reviewed all the available evidence and arrived at the same conclusion.”
However the stewards also “looked into whether car 16 remained on the track or left the track at turn 12,” they stated in document 55. This was a curious line of enquiry given that race control had already ruled Leclerc had gone off and announced that decision over four hours earlier (Leclerc was told on his radio he had committed a second track limits breach).
Nonetheless the stewards now decided differently. “The available evidence was inconclusive as to whether car 16 left the track,” they said.
This will have come as a relief to Ferrari, and they could thank their rivals. “Both team representatives were in agreement that there was no clear evidence that car 16 had left the track,” the stewards noted.
Had the stewards stuck with the original view that Leclerc had left the track, the case for punishing him would have been strong. They did not rule Russell forced him off, so this would have been a matter of Leclerc leaving the track, colliding with Russell, damaging his car and taking a position off him.
Why did Mercedes not press a harder case? Leclerc later retired from the race when he was hit by Russell’s team mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli. If he had been penalised he would therefore have had a grid penalty for the next race at Monza.
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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said afterwards he didn’t want that to happen. “I’m looking at it from the global picture after the race, we don’t want to have Charles having a grid penalty for Monza because of the way he lost this race with one of our cars,” he told the official Formula 1 channel.
However he maintained his view that Leclerc’s move had been over the limit. “On the other side, I don’t think that it was an overtaking spot on the left side,” he said. “You can try to squeeze, but that’s never going to go. And in that sense, I would rather say that was Charles’ fault.”
The other Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton has incurred a grid penalty for the team’s home race next weekend for a separate infraction. Had the stewards not revised their opinion of Leclerc’s track limits breach Ferrari might easily have penalties on both their cars.
Penalty box
Should the stewards have issued a penalty for the incident between Leclerc and Russell? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.
How should the stewards have ruled on the Russell-Leclerc incident?
- No opinion (2%)
- Strong penalty for Leclerc (9%)
- Light penalty for Leclerc (23%)
- No penalty for either driver (61%)
- Light penalty for Russell (5%)
- Strong penalty for Russell (0%)
Total Voters: 57
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