Why the FIA took ‘no further action’ against Leclerc in China Sprint quali

Charles Leclerc was summoned to the stewards for an alleged failure to follow the race director’s instructions during Sprint Qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Shanghai International Circuit hosted the first Sprint Qualifying of the F1 2025 championship where Lewis Hamilton came to the fore to grab his first pole position as a Ferrari driver.

No further action for Charles Leclerc after steward summons

Although rivals and pundits predicted it would be McLaren who would dominate, that seemingly on the cards after Lando Norris finished FP1 half a second ahead of Leclerc, the Woking team were off in the pace in SQ3.

Instead, it was Hamilton who came through with a 1:30.849, a new lap record, to beat Max Verstappen by 0.018s.

As for Leclerc, he finished with the fourth fastest time, two-tenths down on his team-mate.

However, shortly after the chequered flag fell, the FIA announced that he was under investigation for allegedly exceeded the maximum time delta between Safety Car lines during Sprint Qualifying.

The stewards’ note read: ‘Alleged breach of Article 33.4 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations and Article 12.2.1 i) of the FIA International Sporting Code (non-compliance with the Race Director’s Event Notes, item 2, document 11).’

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Article 33.4 of the sporting regulations relates to driver’s behaviour on the track and reads: ‘At no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person.’

Lance Stroll was noted for the same alleged infringement and received no further action on his own accord. He qualified P10.

Explaining the decision not to penalise Leclerc, the stewards wrote: “Both LEC and HAM commenced their preparation laps close to each other. HAM followed LEC closely and LEC had STR ahead of him on a preparatory lap. LEC had to wait for STR to commence his push lap and in the meantime, LEC was overtaken by HAM on the orders of the team.

“LEC at all times maintained a reasonable speed and ultimately sought to create a reasonable gap behind HAM. All of this was done in an orderly fashion and no car behind LEC was affected by this. Therefore, LEC did not impede other drivers and gained no sporting advantage by his course of action.

“The Stewards therefore determine that LEC did not drive “unnecessarily slowly”, and that evidently the reason he was above the maximum time was due to his appropriate actions and take no further action.”

Read next: Chinese GP: Lewis Hamilton takes Sprint pole with Shanghai lap record