The decision of the FiA commissioners arrives for the penalty to Oscar Piastri. During the qualifications of the Imola GP, the Australian had prevented Kevin Magnussen before tackling the last qualifying session. For Piastri, being prevented from qualifying for the Imola GP dropped him to fifth position behind the Ferrari 55. In this way, both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz conquered the second row, starting 3rd and 4th respectively. The front row will instead be made up of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
Impeding Piastri, the press release after Imola GP qualifying
The investigation, which came out immediately after the end of qualifying, led to a long wait for the discovery of the FIA commissioners' verdict regarding the penalty for the McLaren Australian.
This is what we learn from the press release released by it FIA.
“The Stewards listened to the driver of car 81 (Oscar Piastri), the driver of car 20 (Kevin Magnussen), the team representatives and examined the data from the positioning system, the videos, the telemetry provided by the team, the team radio and video evidence in the car. Piastri was coming out of the pits and Magnussen was doing his fastest lap. Piastri hindered Magnussen at the chicane at turns 2 and 3.”
“The Stewards accepted Piastri's explanation that, due to the layout of the circuit at that point, he was unable to see Magnussen until it was too late, and at that point he tried to accelerate to get away from Magnussen as quickly as possible. possible. Magnussen acknowledged that it was difficult for drivers to see the cars behind them in many parts of the circuit, including this point.”
“However, the Stewards have examined the radio teams and Piastri's team did not warn him of the approach of a car much faster until Magnussen was too close for Piastri to do anything to avoid impeding him safely. The Stewards also looked at the moment at which the other drivers were warned of the approaching cars, and it was significantly earlier, and were able to avoid the obstruction at Turn 2/3. Traffic management for the slower cars is an extremely important part of the team-driver combination, especially in Q1.”
