McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes driver George Russell have been handed a reprimand and a 5,000 euro fine for breaching the FIA’s start procedure at Formula 1’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Sao Paulo’s F1 race received a messy start, with Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll spinning into the gravel on the formation lap at the entry into Turn 4. Stroll’s stricken car meant the start had to be aborted, which resets the start procedure and comes with a 10-minute delay for crews to ready the cars for the new start.
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Drivers are supposed to return to the starting grid or stay there when the aborted start message is displayed, but polesitter Norris launched off the grid when the message appeared on the start gantry.
In the confusion, the drivers directly behind Norris followed his example; second-placed starter Russell and both RB drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson.
Others followed the procedure correctly and remained stationary, like Red Bull’s eventual winner Max Verstappen who was confused by what was going on. Eventually, every car left the grid to catch up to the rest of the train.
The incident was investigated after the race so the FIA stewards could hear from the teams involved, and late on Sunday night they penalised Norris and Russell for not following the right procedures.
As the front row starters that caused the disruption, Norris and Russell were slapped with a 5,000 fine and a reprimand for not following the correct procedure.
They therefore keep their respective finishing positions of sixth (Norris) and fourth (Russell).
«Although the signal was appropriately given the light panel illuminated as prescribed, and the teams notified by the messaging system, the driver left the grid and proceeded on a lap that he assumed to be an extra formation lap,» read the verdict for both Britons.
«As the driver was on the front row of the grid this triggered following drivers to take similar action.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, lead the field away for the formation lap
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
«At some point the Race Director, realising that for practical reasons all cars would now need to do an extra formation lap, gave an instruction to the teams for all cars to proceed and return to the grid to follow the correct aborted start procedure.
«In the opinion of the stewards, the driver precipitated the action of the drivers on the grid directly behind him.»
There was no further action for Tsunoda and Lawson, because they reacted to Norris and Russell directly in front of them and therefore were «not predominately responsible for the breach».