Decision Car 55 Alleged Driving Unnecessarily Slowly In The Pit Lane
Time 21:20 2020 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX 10 - 13 December 2020 The Stewards Title Championship Points Description Championship Points · 2020 · 13 December 2020 · Doc 44
- Driver
- Carlos Sainz
- Team
- McLaren F1 Team
- Session
- Race
From The Stewards
To The Team Manager,
McLaren F1 Team
Document 44 Date 13 December 2020
Time 20:26 2020 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX 10 - 13 December 2020 The Stewards, having received a report from the Race Director, summoned (documents 40 and 41) and heard from the drivers and team representatives, have considered the following matter and determine the following:
No / Driver 55 - Carlos Sainz Competitor McLaren F1 Team Time 17:31
Session Race
Fact Alleged driving unnecessarily slowly in the pit lane. Offence Alleged breach of Articles 40.3 & 27.4 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations. Decision No further action Reason The Stewards viewed video evidence, radio transmissions and telemetry data, heard from the driver of car 55 (Carlos Sainz), the driver of car 18 (Lance Stroll) and team representatives. Car 55 was advised by its Team, that it was 2.4 seconds in front of Car 18 approaching the Pit Entry. There was no instruction by the Team to slow down. On approaching the Start of the Pit Lane Car 55 accelerated then as per normal practice, braked briefly to less than 80 km/h just prior to the line and then accelerated up to 80. This was exactly the same as Car 5. (Car 18 also braked to below 80 prior to the line then accelerated up to 80 as it crossed the line). Within the Pit Lane, Car 55 was at 80 km/h for all but approximately 5 seconds when it dropped to no less than 70 km/h. We estimate this resulted in Car 55 arriving at the pit stop around 0.6 second later than if it had maintained a speed of 80 km/h. Therefore, we are not of the view that this action in any way resulted in the Team avoiding a "double stack" situation as Car 5 was well clear of the Pit Stop at this time. We also accept the explanation of the driver of Car 55 that he was exercising a degree of caution as video evidence confirms the presence of a lot of other teams' personnel in the Pit Lane at the time. Car 18 was able to maintain a speed of 80 km/h in the Pit Lane except for a very short period of time (approximately 1 second) and therefore we do not consider that it was materially impacted by the actions of the driver of Car 55. We also checked the relative speeds of the cars after leaving their pit stops and can see no evidence of Car 55 driving unnecessarily slowly.
The Stewards It should be noted that normally the Stewards prefer to take decisions of this nature during the Race however in this case the necessary telemetry was only available shortly before the Finish. Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Article 10.1.1 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time