The Australian Grand Prix stewards have taken the rare step of cancelling a penalty which was issued during a race.
Red Bull junior driver Kacper Sztuka finished the sprint race in 17th place. However on the final lap he was issued a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits four times, dropping him to 24th.
The stewards issued the penalty following a report by F3 race director Rui Marques. However, after examining video evidence, the stewards decided Sztuka had only gone off-track three times.
Almost six hours after the race finished, they issued a new document annulling the original decision and rescinding Sztuka’s penalty.
Another driver, Max Esterson, was found to have exceeded track limits four times, but his penalty was not overturned.
Five other penalties were issued during or following the race. Tommy Smith was given a 10-second time penalty, plus two penalty points, for running into the back of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak at turn one.
Nikita Bedrin was also given a 10-second time penalty for cutting the track at turn 10 while overtaking Sebastien Montoya and failing to give the position back.
Although 10 seconds has been made the default penalty for this type of infringement, Ferrari academy driver Dino Beganovic was only penalised five seconds for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while also racing Montoya through turns three and four. The stewards took in mitigation the fact Beganovic’s car may have been unbalanced on the apex kerb at turn four.
The five-second penalty is still sufficient to drop Beganovic out of the points places.
Goether admitted he followed Boya, who in turn incorrectly accompanied the three drivers who were heading to the podium and were supposed to enter the F1 pits.
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Formula 3
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