FIA hit Charles Leclerc with punishment following practice infringement at Azerbaijan GP

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc headed off to see the stewards ahead of qualifying in Azerbaijan, following an alleged infringement in final practice.

The Monegasque driver was called up to explain himself over an incident in final practice at the Baku City Circuit.

Charles Leclerc summoned by FIA stewards in Baku

Leclerc finished with the second-quickest time of the third practice session in Baku, popping in a 1:42.527 to set what was then the currently quickest time of FP3 at the time.

But Leclerc’s time was set while yellow flags were showing in the first sector of the lap, due to Pierre Gasly going off into an escape area in his Alpine.

The incident caught the attention of the stewards, who called up the Monegasque at 14:45 local time to explain his perspective of the incident.

Following the meeting, the FIA handed Leclerc a reprimand after finding that he had failed to slow down for the yellow flags. However, the verdict confirmed there had been extraneous factors taken into consideration.

“As Leclerc, passed Turn 2, he could see Gasly, ahead of him,” the stewards explained.

“Approaching Turn 3, it was not clear to Leclerc or the in-car video, where Gasly was relative to the corner.

“Leclerc passed the marshaling signal board prior to Turn 3 and no signal is given.

“Confirmed by telemetry and video, just past his braking point, Gasly comes clearly into the view of the in-car camera on the right of the runoff at Turn 3, and shortly afterward a single waved yellow flag is shown from an elevated position to the right of the runoff just before Leclerc turns into the corner.

“Confirmed by telemetry and by the driver in the hearing, at this point, he was fully under braking and any further braking would have resulted in an accident. The driver further explained that, while he saw movement in his peripheral vision, he was looking to the apex of the corner and did not immediately recognise that it was a yellow flag.

“In reviewing the video the Stewards consider this to be reasonable.

“Once past the corner, the green marshaling panel was clearly visible as was a clear track all the way to the following corner. However, the regulations state that the yellow sector extends to the point of the green flag.

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“Telemetry indicates that Leclerc applied the throttle in a similar manner to other fast laps prior to the green flag and the mini-sector timing indicates that this was his fastest time through that sector up to that point in the session, although increasing grip and decreasing car weights have an influence on this.

“The Stewards consider that the driver took all reasonable actions throughout the incident, except that given that he was in a yellow zone past the apex, and even though the track was visibly clear and a green was visible shortly after, he should have varied his throttle application out of caution and in order to fully comply with the intent of the regulation to noticeably reduce speed in that sector.

“As no competitive advantage was gained, and at no time was any action of the driver in any way dangerous, and especially in light of the timing and visibility of the flag, being when the driver was fully under braking, the Stewards consider this as strong mitigation and therefore, in light of this being free practice order a driving reprimand.

Separately, an incident between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz resulted in a warning for the Red Bull driver in a role reversal of a very similar incident between the duo in Friday practice.

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