Stewards reveal Antonelli should have received five-second time penalty before pit stop | Formula 1

The stewards have revealed Andrea Kimi Antonelli should have received a five-second time penalty before his final pit stop in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

Antonelli exceeded track limits four times during the race, which triggers an automatic five-second time penalty. However the stewards did not identify his fourth breach until later in the race.

As Antonelli retired from the race, he will not have to serve any penalty. The FIA’s penalty guidelines for stewards state: “In cases where there is a single five second penalty which a driver is unable to serve due to retirement, the stewards will not convert that into a grid penalty for a subsequent race.”

Antonelli’s race engineer Peter Bonnington warned him early in the race he had exceeded track limits three times and was therefore at risk of a penalty if he did so once more. Later Lando Norris’s race engineer told him they believed Antonelli had already exceeded track limits four times.

The stewards originally stated Antonelli had gone off just three times, all at turn 10. However they subsequent identified a further breach at the same corner.

Antonelli committed his fourth breach 12 minutes before he made his second pit stop. At that time the stewards had only noticed three – the fourth was identified later in the race. Had Antonelli served his penalty at that pit stop he would have lost a position to Norris.

The stewards noted Antonelli should have been informed of his third breach earlier in the race but decided this was not sufficient reason not to penalise him.

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“The stewards acknowledge that the driver did not receive a black [and] white flag after his third infringement but rather after his fourth infringement as one earlier infringement was only detected later in the race. However, based on the current regulations and Driving Standards Guidelines, this does not exempt the driver from complying with the regulations.”

“As there might be some ambiguity in the relevant guidelines, the stewards recommend the FIA revisit the current procedures and guidelines as soon as possible,” the stewards added.

No other driver committed more than two track limits offences during the race.

This article will be updated.

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