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While the judges had just salivated the various incidents of the time trial, spiced up with two red flags and then an hour of downtime, they came to the forefront of victory. Walk Lance due to a possible violation of the yellow flag.
Television footage showed his Stroll teammate Sergio Perez spinning ahead of him on the track during his fastest lap in Q3, waving the yellow flag at the seven-turn corner. They told Stroll about the incident, but he was still able to run the fastest lap.
The judges investigated the case and ultimately acquitted Stroll, saying they felt he had slowed down under the yellow flag, even if it was difficult to detect, given that he could still improve at the time due to improving conditions.
McLaren driver Lando Norris was also the center of attention after such an incident, running his fastest lap in Q1 despite a caution for Nicholas Latifi turning into turn eight. Norris was also deemed to have slowed down due to the yellow flags, but ultimately received a five-point penalty, returning to starting block 16.
Why is there such a difference between punishing or not punishing two competitors?
The answer is in the rules, and that is that while Perez’s turn triggered only a yellow flag warning, a double yellow flag was ordered for Latifi. The Stroll engineer even made a signal to slow down due to the yellow, he did it based on telemetry, but outside the seven-lap turn, following the instructions of his engineer, who indicated that it was just a simple yellow flag, he stomped throttle again.
The message is important because even though Stroll had slowed down from the start, if it had been a double caution, he would have had to give up his lap entirely. That’s what Norris fell for. The judges noted that the McLaren driver “may not have wanted to run faster than before, but he did so due to changing circumstances, in violation of the reference rules.
These rules are buried in Appendix H of the FIA Competition Rules, which clarifies the meaning of the judges’ flags. The double yellow flag reads: “Speed must be significantly reduced, overtaking is prohibited and the driver must be prepared for a sudden change of direction or braking. The course is totally or partially blocked by an obstacle and / or the course judges work on or alongside the course “.
“During free practice and time trial, it should be clear that the driver did not intend to do a normal lap.” – he writes the rule book, which then clarifies what it means for the pilot to give up his lap – and does not stipulate that he must come out of the box.
In other words, as the condition of the track improved significantly, the drivers were able to make significant improvements, so in vain Norris tried to brake and yield the lap, thus improving enough to receive the penalty. And Paseo was able to calmly continue his turn for the simple yellow, which to everyone’s amazement earned him the pole and ended without giving a bitter turn one of the most beautiful days of his life.
For the same reason, there were still plenty of Q1 drivers who might have made a similar mistake, but no one other than George Russell, who was starting from the end of the field anyway, was found guilty of the engine change.
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