Austrian former professional racing driver and current advisor to the Red Bull teams, Helmut Marko, said that Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc should be given a penalty for missing the FIA weighbridge in the qualifying session for the 2022 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix earlier today.
Charles Leclerc took pole position and will start tomorrow’s race from P1 after an amazing lap in Q3 and was on his way to an ever faster lap time before the red flag in the final stages of qualifying. However, the Ferrari driver had to be pushed back down the pitlane by the Maranello team’s mechanics due to the fact that he did not notice the sign to stop for being weighed during Q2.
The Italian side explained that nothing was touched on the car on its way back to the weighbridge, and that Charles’ F1-75 car did not return to the garage between the moment he was called and the car was weighed. The incident is not under investigation by the Monaco stewards.
Yet this did not stop Helmut Marko from asking for a penalty for the Monegasque driver, on a day in which Charles Leclerc was in a league of his own and was clearly ahead of both Red Bull cars as well as his Maranello teammate. In an interview for Austrian outlet ORF at the end of the qualifying session, Helmut Marko said: “If you punish this consistently, as you do in the junior classes, then there will be a drastic penalty. He drove by. They didn’t change the car, but according to the regulations, it should be a penalty. I don’t wish it on him because he’s had so much bad luck in Monte Carlo, but I don’t think you can say that pushing back will solve this offence.” – he added.
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At the same time, the Red Bull advisor confirmed that the team will not be officially complaining to stewards about this situation: “I don’t think we need to intervene. This was so clear. There are other teams that are also behind him and everyone is there interested in moving up the ranks. We are officially not going to do anything.”
The Ferrari driver explains why he missed FIA weightbridge
Formula 1 drivers are informed about the need to stop and pull onto the FIA weighbridge by a light panel at pit entry, but Charles Leclerc explained that the panel is not easy to notice when travelling at speed.
Luckily for the Monegasque, Ferrari saw it after he didn’t, and made sure Charles stopped immediately: “It’s a very tricky one here because we get into the pits and I actually don’t even know where the panel is, whether it’s on the right or left, but it’s very far so you don’t look in that direction. So actually I did not see at all that I was called to the weighbridge, but luckily for me the team saw the alarm and told me to stop. Then they pushed me back.” – the Ferrari driver concluded.
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