The F1 Australian Grand Prix steward has ruled that Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) will be liable for a contact with Nicholas Latifi (Williams) and will be penalized for a three-grid demotion.
This crash occurred during qualifying Q1 on Saturday, 9th. The team worked hard on the repair work following the crash of FP3, and sent the stroll to the course at the last minute of Q1 remaining, but the car was damaged once more.
Latifi, a Canadian driver from his hometown who was working on the preparatory lap, once put out a stroll approaching from behind. However, when Stroll started to run in front of him at a low speed and tried to overtake from the right side of Turn 5, the two came into contact because Stroll moved toward the inside. The red flag was waved and the hands of the clock were stopped with 2 minutes and 1 second remaining.
After hearing from both drivers and team representatives and verifying the video evidence, the competition referees, including former Arrows F1 driver Enrique Bernoldi, have “main responsibility” in Stroll, who was “lacking situational awareness.” Judged. In addition to demoting the 3 grids, he also ruled to impose 2 penalty points related to the Super License. Cumulative points have reached 7 points. After 5 points, one race will be suspended.
Immediately following the accident, Latifi said regarding the case: “When I tried to overtake to prepare for the out lap, he rushed in. I saw him interrupting the lap, so I tried to start my preparation lap. It’s just that. Everything is clear in the video, and I have nothing more to say, “he criticized Stroll.