F1 News
FIA respond after questions regarding Charles Leclerc's penalty in Japan
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
After taking the penalty given to Charles Leclerc at the Japanese Grand Prix into question, the FIA have now responded and clarified the situation, as the initial statement regarding Leclerc's 10-second penalty referenced the wrong article.
Initial statement
In that statement, where Leclerc got a 10-second penalty for continuing to drive despite having a damaged car, the FIA referenced to article 38.3 d). However, as GPblog.com reported yesterday, tab d) of the article states a 10-second penalty plus a stop-and-go is the penalty, or a 30-second time penalty if it is awarded after the race, as was the case with Ferrari's 21-year-old driver. Should this have been applied to Leclerc, he would've finished in 12th place rather than seventh, where he was classified after his 10-second penalty.
So, the FIA had either referenced the wrong article of their regulations in that statement, or they had given the Monegasque too soft of a penalty.
Clarification
A day after GPblog.com released this article, the FIA have responded. In their comments, they said the following:
"It was a typo – it should just read 38.3 and the ‘d’ shouldn’t be there. The decision itself and results as published are correct."
A remarkable typo, given it was specifically added with the bracket behind the letter 'd' as well. An honest mistake on the FIA part. This means Leclerc was in fact given the correct punishment, but the wrong article was referenced in the statement that came with the penalty for the four-time pole sitter.