The Belgian Grand Prix stewards have issued a clarification explaining why Charles Leclerc will be made to start from the back of the grid following a series of accumulated grid penalties.
A total of six drivers – Leclerc plus Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon, Mick Schumacher and Zhou Guanyu – have been sent to the back of the grid for tomorrow’s race after collecting more than 15 places of grid penalties due to exceeding their power unit component or gearbox allowance for the 2022 season.
Under Article 28.3 of the Sporting Regulations, any driver who incurs “a penalty exceeding 15 grid places.. will be required to start the race from the back of the starting grid.” All five drivers exceeded enough allocated components in the same single action, ensuring that they breached the 15 place drop threshold that condemned them to the back of the grid.
Leclerc was not among those originally issued a ‘back of the grid’ penalty yesterday, despite collecting a total grid drop of 20 places on Friday. He received a 15 place penalty after Ferrari installed a fifth MGU-K and a third energy store of the season on his car for first practice. Following that penalty, Ferrari then changed his control electronics to a new third unit, which once again breached his allocation and earned another five-place grid penalty.
Initially, despite Leclerc accumulating a total penalty of 20 places, the stewards did not rule that he would be made to start from the back of the grid. The consequences of this were potentially significant for the championship, as it meant Leclerc stood to start the race in front of Verstappen.
However, the stewards today ruled that Leclerc has earned the full penalty to see him start from the back of the grid as with Verstappen, Norris, Ocon, Schumacher and Zhou. They clarified their interpretation that the regulation should consider the total value of grid places penalised across multiple actions over a race weekend.
“As car 16 [Leclerc] has accumulated 20 grid place penalties (documents 14 and 31) for this competition under article 28.3 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, this is in excess of the 15 permitted under the regulation and therefore the car will be required to start the race from the back of the starting grid,” explained the stewards.
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“The stewards consider this to be the logical conclusion reading article 28.3. However, it is possible to interpret it…
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