Pole-sitter Charles Leclerc reprimanded for yellow flag incident

Having been under investigation for a yellow flag incident in final practice, the FIA has elected to hand out a reprimand to the Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.

Having taken a sensational pole position for Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc was under investigation for not slowing down sufficiently during the yellow flag conditions in the final free practice session at the Baku Circuit.

After reviewing the incident, the FIA has decided to issue a reprimand to the Ferrari driver., with the race stewards confirming that the Monegasque had no other option and, consequently, was not found guilty of performing a dangerous action.

The FIA’s noted: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 16 (Charles Leclerc), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence.

“As the driver of Car 16, Leclerc, passed turn 2 he could see Car 10, Gasly, ahead of him. Approaching turn 3 it was not clear to Leclerc, or the in-car video, where Gasly was relative to the corner. Leclerc passed the marshalling signal board prior to turn 3 and no signal is given.

“Confirmed by telemetry and video, just past his braking point, Gasly comes clearly into the view of the in-car camera on the right of the unoff at turn 3, and shortly afterwards a single waved yellow flag is shown from an elevated position to the right of the runoff just before Leclerc turns into the corner.

“Confirmed by telemetry and by the driver in the hearing, at this point he was fully under braking and any further braking would have resulted in an accident. The driver further explained that while he saw movement in his peripheral vision, he was looking to the apex of the corner and did not immediately recognize that it was a yellow flag. In reviewing the video the Stewards consider this to be reasonable.

“Once past the corner, the green marshalling panel was clearly visible as was a clear track all the way to the following corner. However, the regulations state that the yellow sector extends to the point of the green flag. Telemetry indicates that Leclerc applied the throttle in a imilar manner to other fast laps and prior to the green flag and the mini-sector timing indicates that this was his fastest time through that sector up to that point in the session, although increasing grip and decreasing car weights have an influence on this.

“The Stewards consider that the driver took all reasonable actions throughout the incident, except that given that he was in a yellow zone past the apex, and even though the track was visibly clear and a green was visible shortly after, he should have varied his throttle application out of caution and in order to fully comply with the intent of the regulation to noticeably reduce speed in that sector.

“As no competitive advantage was gained, and at no time was any action of the driver in any way dangerous, and especially in light of the timing and visibility of the flag, being when the driver was fully under braking, the Stewards consider this as strong mitigation and therefore, in light of this being free-practice order a driving reprimand.”