Why Leclerc and Stroll’s cynical Spain F1 practice fouls needed punishment

Lucky? A little bit. That Charles Leclerc and Lance Stroll walked away from FP3 at Barcelona without receiving anything more than a reprimand for what can be charitably described as ‘avoidable contact’ left something of a sour taste in the mouth.

The end of the final practice session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was suffused by something of an ill-tempered air, as a series of drivers jostled too closely for meaningless track position. It was effectively over, but the circuit resembled rush hour in the city centre of your choice during rush hour- and not for any discernible reason.

It had started when Lance Stroll and Lewis Hamilton had a coming together at Turn 5; Stroll appeared to have been baulked by Hamilton a few corners previously and commented that the Mercedes driver “thinks he’s alone on track”. Thus, Hamilton took to the outside of the tight infield left-hander to let Stroll through Instead, the Canadian followed him wide and made contact – an act which damaged his own floor.

Then, just a few metres down the road a matter of minutes later, Leclerc chopped across Lando Norris out of the Turn 6 kink. The Monegasque was also frustrated by Norris, who subsequently peeled to the inside of the track to let Leclerc take the outside and the line for Turn 7. But Leclerc seemed to list lazily to the left, which also produced more than a modicum of contact between the two.

It appeared that both manoeuvres were born out of frustration. They rather carried a similar flavour to Sebastian Vettel’s intentional wheelbang with Lewis Hamilton at the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the German incensed by the idea that Hamilton had brake-tested him under the safety car. This earned Vettel a 10-second stop-and-go penalty and three points on his licence, so there was an apparent yardstick for similar incidents.

Instead, both Leclerc and Stroll received reprimands. Thus, the message that the stewards have sent out is this: drivers are categorically allowed to hit someone intentionally and only receive a slap on the wrist, as long as they don’t do so “dangerously”.

The stewards’ reports read thusly, starting with Stroll’s contact on Hamilton: “The driver of Car 18 stated that he got impeded by Car 44 into Turn 5 and that upset him. He admitted that he wanted to express his displeasure to the other driver by pulling over on him at the…