F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Big fine for Ferrari; 30-second penalties for Hartley and Perez

Ferrari has been handed a 50,000 euro fine for the unsafe pit stop release that led to the injury of one of the team personnel.

Kimi Raikkonen came in on lap 35 for a new set of tyres, However, a problem led to the car being waved out despite the left rear wheel not having been changed.

The team immediately told Raikkonen to stop. However, as he pulled out, he ran over one of the pit crew still working on the car. The crew member suffered a fractured shinbone and fibula, and was taken to the medical centre for treatment.

It was the second pit stop mishap to strike Ferrari this weekend. The Finn also suffered an improperly attached wheel in Friday's free practice.

The team was given a 5,000 euro fine on that occasion. But the second incident was deemed more serious, explaining the ten-times bigger amount.

"The Stewards reviewed the video of the pit stop," said the official notice. "And also heard from the team representatives.

"The Stewards determined that the car was released unsafely in breach of Article 28.13a of the sporting regulations.

"The team released the car in a manner endangering team personnel and causing injury."

Brendon Hartley and Sergio Perez also ran foul of the Bahrain race stewards after the conclusion of the Grand Prix.

Both drivers received 30-second post-race penalties for failing to stay in their proper order during the formation lap prior to the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The pair had been due to start alongside each other, with the Toro Rosso in 11th place and Force India just behind in 12th.

Perez was deemed to have passed Hartley on the way ot the starting grid. Hartley then repassed Perez before the first safety car line.

“The stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from Sergio Perez, the driver of car 11 and the team representative,” said the stewards' report

“The driver of car 11 also admitted the driver of car 28 [Hartley] was not unduly delayed when leaving the grid to start the formation lap.

“The stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from Brendon Hartley, the driver of car 28 and the team representative," the report continued.

“Car 28 was overtaken by car 11 during the formation lap, failed to re-establish his position before the first Safety Car line and then did not enter the pits as required under Article 38.3."

As well as the 30-second penalty - which drops him down from 13th to 117th points in the race classification - Hartley picked up two penalty points.

He had earlier been given a ten second penalty during the race for a collision with Perez on the opening lap which left the Force India car spun round.

Perez dropped from 12th to 16th place as a result of his 30-second post-race penalty, but did not pick up any penalty points for the formation lap incident.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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