Leclerc and Gasly collect penalty points, Tsunoda cleared

Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly received their first penalty points for more than a year for incidents during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

However Yuki Tsunoda was cleared over his role in an incident involving Nico Hulkenberg.

The stewards penalised Leclerc for “erratic driving” when he tried to defend his position from George Russell, noting the Ferrari driver changed his line in the braking zone at turn one. However they considered it a mitigating factor that Russell was eventually able to pass the Ferrari driver.

Therefore the stewards only gave Leclerc a single penalty point on his licence. They also gave Leclerc a five-second time penalty, though it had no effect on his finishing position.

“Car 63 [Russell] moved to overtake car 16 [Leclerc] on the inside into turn one,” the stewards noted. “Car 16 moved towards car 63 on the main straight before braking and subsequently moved a second time, now under braking, nearly causing a collision with car 63. The stewards consider both moves combined to constitute erratic driving.

“The stewards took into account that car 63 succeeded in overtaking car 16 and that there was no contact and in these circumstances apply a less severe penalty than might have been applied in different circumstances.”

They issued two penalty points to Pierre Gasly for forcing Carlos Sainz Jnr off the track at turn two. In their decision the stewards pointed out Sainz was entitled to be left room on the outside of the corner.

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“Car 55 [Sainz] attempted an overtake on the outside on car 10 [Gasly] into turn four,” the stewards ruled. “Car 55 had its front axle ahead of the front axle of car 10 at the apex and therefore had the right to the racing line according to the Driving Standard Guidelines.

“Car 10 tried to retake the position but thereby collided with car 55. The stewards determine that the driver of car 10 is wholly at fault and impose the standard penalty for such incidents.”

Gasly also received a 10-second time penalty for his infringement.

However the stewards cleared Tsunoda for forcing Hulkenberg off the track after noting the Sauber driver rejoined the track ahead of his rival.

The stewards are still investigating Max Verstappen over an incident in which he allegedly forced Lewis Hamilton off the track.

Penalty box

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Were the stewards right to penalise Gasly?

Gasly’s penalty for forcing Sainz off is:

• No opinion (14%)
• Far too lenient (5%)
• Slightly too lenient (0%)
• Correct (62%)
• Slightly too harsh (19%)
• Far too harsh (0%)

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