Formula 3 championship contender Luke Browning has lost his best lap time from qualifying after the stewards used new powers to penalise him for causing a red flag.
The Williams junior driver, who came into the weekend seven points behind leader Gabriele Mini, originally qualified seventh and was set to inherit one place from another driver who was disqualified after the session.
However the stewards chose to use a new rule introduced for 2024 giving them the power to delete the fastest lap time of a driver if they were considered solely responsible for causing a red flag. They therefore removed Browning’s best time, a 1’34.437. His next-best time was a 1’34.941 which will drop him to 14th on the grid, one place behind Mini.
The rule was introduced to F3 and F2 to prevent drivers from being able to gain an advantage by causing a red flag in qualifying which would stop rivals from beating their lap time. Some drivers have called for a similar rule to be introduced in F1.
The stewards accepted Browning’s explanation that his crash at turn 11 was caused by a driving error. They ruled: “The driver of car 14 [Browning] stated that he was in control of his car during the entire session and due to factors outside his control, he spun and collided with the barriers.
“The driver explained that there may have been debris on the track surface, and this may have been the factor that contributed to him losing control of the car. The stewards acknowledged the driver’s honesty and detailed explanation of his approach in driving during the session and particularly what happened at turn 11. The driver explained that if he had continued (without losing control) that he may have set a far better qualifying during that lap.
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“The stewards presented the driver with the text of Article 33.5 of the 2024 FIA F3 Sporting Regulations, which states ‘any driver who in the opinion of the stewards is the sole cause of the issuance of a red flag during the qualifying practice session will not be permitted to take any further part in the session and their fastest lap time during the session may be deleted.’
“The resultant action following car 14’s collision caused the qualifying session to be red-flagged, and the session to be ended prematurely. This sudden end to the session not only affected car 14 (who may have qualified better) but it also affected the vast majority of the grid that was on a last attempt…
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