Decision Car 3 Alleged Impeding Of Car 14
Time 00:10 2021 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX 9 - 12 December 2021 The Stewards Title Championship Points Description Championship Points · 2021 · 11 December 2021 · Doc 40
- Driver
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Team
- McLaren F1 Team
- Session
- Qualifying
From The Stewards
To The Team Manager,
McLaren F1 Team
Document 40 Date 11 December 2021
Time 21:04 2021 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX 9 - 12 December 2021 The Stewards, having received a report from the Race Director, summoned (documents 31 & 32) and heard from the drivers and team representatives, have considered the following matter and determine the following:
No / Driver 3 - Daniel Ricciardo Competitor McLaren F1 Team Time 17:42 Session Qualifying Fact Alleged Impeding of Car 14 by Car 3 in Turn 16. Offence Alleged Breach of Article 31.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations. Decision No further action. Reason The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 3 (Daniel Ricciardo), the driver of Car 14 (Fernando Alonso) and team representatives, and examined video, team radio and telemetry evidence. This incident shared many common elements with the other incidents of alleged impeding from Qualification. Most cars did very slow warm up laps resulting in significantly large differences in speed to cars on fast laps. This combined with the desire of all drivers to establish a gap to the car in front when starting a fast lap, results in situations where a car may have an "impact" on another car doing a fast lap. However, the Stewards consider this is different to "impeding" and in particular, "unnecessarily impeding". This latter point was emphasised by the Team Representative of Car 3. The Stewards note that Car 14 was 41 seconds behind Car 3 at the exit of Turn 14 however Car 3 was part of a "chain" of backed-up cars (as a result of double yellow flags at Turn 14) and as a result Car 14 quickly closed the gap on Car 3 and caught Car 3 at Turn 16. It is the Stewards' determination that the driver of Car 3 could have done little, if anything, to avoid impacting Car 14's lap. 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 Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.