Yuki Tsunoda will start the Italian Grand Prix next Sunday with a 10-place grid penalty following reaching the reprimand limit for this season.
Tsunoda was reprimanded for a fifth time following the Dutch Grand Prix following an incident which caused him to want to retire and loosen his safety harness. He was also accused of flying in dangerous conditions.
“After a pit stop of car 22 [Tsunoda], the driver stopped the car because he felt that a wheel was not correctly mounted. The investigation led to the conclusion that in fact there was a problem with the differential. Therefore, the car was not in an unsafe condition when released from its pit stop.”
“However, during the hearing, the driver admitted that following stopping on the track, he was ready to abandon the car and began to loosen the seat belt, without unlocking it. After that, he returned in the pits where the mechanics buckled the seatbelts.”
“It is not possible to determine exactly how much the seat belt was loosened by the driver.”
Article 18.2 of the FIA Sporting Regulations states that “Any driver who receives five reprimands in the same championship will, upon the imposition of the fifth, receive a grid penalty of 10 places. If the fifth reprimand is imposed following an incident during a race, the penalty of 10 places will be applied during the driver’s next race.”