The FIA have provided details regarding a possible loophole found in the Formula 1 rules which Ferrari initially tried to capitalize for Charles Leclerc to get a higher starting position at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in the Belgian Grand Prix.
Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc is one of seven drivers, including his championship rival Max Verstappen, to elect to take grid penalties at Spa-Francorchamps in order to be able to use new power unit parts and therefore to introduce new components into their pools for the last nine rounds of the current Formula 1 campaign. Many teams chose Spa for these penalties given the layout of the circuit, which makes it easy for drivers to overtake.
Charles Leclerc initially ran a few new power unit components during the first two free practice sessions on Friday, before taking on more for Saturday’s track action at Spa. The Formula 1 Sporting Regulations state that “if a driver incurs a penalty exceeding 15 grid places, he will be required to start the race from the back of the grid”.
Yet a potential loophole was then identified in the rulebook as the Maranello team took their penalties in different hits – with neither drop exceeding 15 places.
The FIA admitted that Article 28.3 (relating to power unit usage) could be seen as not triggering a back of a grid penalty as “the wording of the sentence is singular (a penalty)”.
As mentioned, Charles Leclerc did not individually receive more than the required 15 places in one hit, with this “exact situation” having not occurred since the rule was put in place in 2018.
However, the FIA stewards made a further examination of the rules and confirmed that even in this case, the penalties “will be cumulative”.
As a result, regardless of how many power unit component changes were made by Ferrari on the F1-75 car of the Monegasque driver and no matter how many penalty places Charles Leclerc received for the Belgian Grand Prix they were all added as one. In this way, the loophole that would have permitted him to start ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen despite using a completely new engine was clarified:
“Logically, regardless of how many documents the penalties are published in, all decisions accumulate over the competition, and anything over the 15 grid place limit triggers the back of the grid penalty,” explained the press release – “It is important to note that the ‘start the race from the back of the starting grid’ penalty [that] is fully embedded in Article 28 was specifically introduced in response to nonsensically high grid penalties from PU changes. [It] has never been used to accumulate grid penalties imposed from other articles of the regulations.” – the FIA added.
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When it actually came down to qualifying at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Max Verstappen proved by far the fastest driver and finished in P1 with a huge gap over the rest of the field. His 1:43.655 Q3 lap time was impressive, as the Dutchman didn’t even need to make a final run in Q3, aware that no rivals could beat his result, despite the fact that Ferrari showed some great teamwork, with Charles helping his Maranello teammate by giving him a tow.
Yet due to his own engine penalty, he won’t be starting the Belgian Grand Prix from pole position: Carlos Sainz was promoted from second fastest to inherit P1 on the grid, while Charles Leclerc will start from P16, just behind Max Verstappen, as the Monegasque driver will attempt to stay close to his rival as they make their way through the field at Spa.
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