Lance Stroll has been given a total of three penalty points for the incidents he was involved in during the Portuguese Grand Prix, including his collision with Lando Norris.
The stewards held the Racing Point driver responsible for the crash with the McLaren at turn one, ruling Norris left him enough room to avoid a collision.“Stroll made a late move around Norris at the end of the main straight. He then drove straight towards the apex of turn one while Norris was still partially alongside.
“Norris moved as far to the apex as he could just avoiding the aggressive sausage [kerb] on the inside, and thus did everything he could to avoid the collision. The stewards determined that Stroll was predominantly at fault for the collision.”
Stroll was given two penalty points for that collision, and a further penalty point for repeatedly violating track limits during the race. He also received two five-second time penalties.
Romain Grosjean and Daniil Kvyat were also given one penalty point and a five second time penalty each for “leaving the track on multiple occasions” without a justifiable reason.
The penalties leave Kvyat on five penalty points, Stroll on three and Grosjean on one.
Kvayt was also cleared of failing to respond to blue flags when Valtteri Bottas appeared behind him during the race.
The stewards ruled “Kvyat did pass blue flags in multiple sectors” but “Bottas had just exited the pits on hard tyres and had been passed by several cars including Kvyat.
“The stewards reviewed the on-boards from following cars and noted that it was several sectors before Bottas had full grip, at which point Kvyat did let him by.”
A late-race incident involving Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly at turn one, where Perez made a late defensive move against the AlphaTauri driver, is also under investigation.
This article will be updated
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
praxis (@praxis)
25th October 2020, 15:09
Stroll needs to clean up his Sunday performance, lots lf valuable points bding lost here.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
25th October 2020, 15:14
I don’t see how kvyat should even have been investigated. Bottas clearly struggled when he came out of the pits. If Kvyat had to hang back behind Bottas who was claerly slower when he was struggling with his tyres, he would have been ruining the result of his own race. He managed to overtake Bottas and pull some way ahead untill Bottas was comfortable with his car.
BasCB (@bascb)
25th October 2020, 15:28
I think they are automatically reported to the stewards once the blue flags are out for several sectors @thegianthogweed. Wholly agree that there was no reason at all there to penelise him, Bottas was massively struggling to get up to a speed after that pitstop.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
25th October 2020, 15:18
RP are not like the top 2 teams, you complain about f1, f1 bites you back. Don’t think he is at fault,cracing incidents are racing incidents.
Bradders (@bradders)
25th October 2020, 15:34
Disagree with your comment. His race craft needs to improve. Pinch someone towards the apex, expect to get tapped, especially with the length of the cars as they are.
However, I do emphatically agree with your name: what is with their fascination about zooming into the cockpit as closely as possible? You can’t see anything the cars are doing!
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
25th October 2020, 16:49
If this is about Stroll, then in general, his racecraft is better than a great deal of drivers. The way he often flies by drivers at the start of the race such as in Russia a few weeks back shows that normally, his spacial awareness, positioning and other things is pretty good.
I think this penalty was somewhat harsh. He had got the front of his car some way ahead of Norris before the corner and I personally think Norris had enough time to predict what may happen. Should stroll drive off the track? I think this should have been a racing incident really.
MaddMe (@)
25th October 2020, 18:23
He was still alongside Norris when he attempted to take the apex. The damage on both cars shows that Stroll was at fault in that he damaged both his own and Norris’s front wing. What did he expect, Norris to suddenly disappear when he was less than half a car length in front?
Considering he had a similar incident on Friday, he should have been much more aware.
Andy Bunting (@wildbiker)
25th October 2020, 15:19
Daddy they’re being not nice to me again…….
Qeki (@qeki)
25th October 2020, 15:25
Lol
Ashwini Kumar Singh (@ole99)
25th October 2020, 15:22
Only verstappen is exempt from the rules! Other will penalty for racing incident too. Good one f1…
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
25th October 2020, 15:32
@ole99 The judgement of Verstappen was consistent with recent first lap incidents such as Leclerc on Stroll at the Russian GP. Agree he was at fault, but usually they get a pass on the first lap.
Chaitanya
25th October 2020, 15:34
He is referring to FP2 incident and use of derogatory language.
F1oSaurus (@)
25th October 2020, 16:09
@keithedin Yet it’s not consistent with Leclerc on Verstappen in Japan 2019.
Palindnilap (@palindnilap)
25th October 2020, 16:14
Absolutely true. The only difference being that Leclerc said he was lucky not to be penalized – while Max said “he didn’t leave enough space and basically took himself out of the race”, or something to that effect.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th October 2020, 15:23
Contradicting view from the Stewards in comparison to the Friday incident. In that case, no action, but in this one, yes. People, in general, blamed Max for it as the driver behind but in this case the driver in front. #MakeUpYourMind
MaddMe (@)
25th October 2020, 18:25
Only in this instance, Stroll partially left the circuit to make the pass and then cut over into Norris before he had gone less than half way past Norris.
Ber101 (@cplchanb)
25th October 2020, 15:29
penalty points on track limits is the exact reason why this point system needs to be reformed.
there is nothing dangerous about going wide, especially if youre in the back and you didnt blatenly cheat. PP needs to be reserved for collisions and safety violations, such as strolls crash which was fair.
Neil (@neilosjames)
25th October 2020, 16:04
+1.
GtisBetter (@)
25th October 2020, 16:48
Not really, PP do this are fine. if you can’t stay within the lines after they told it at the briefing and you get a warning, you need some encouragement to work on your racecraft. A potential ban is a good encouragement.
praxis (@praxis)
25th October 2020, 17:56
@passingisoverrated,
Instead of a potential ban, can’t time penalty be a better encouragement? Otherwise violatiing track limits and violation of rules falls under the same category of offenses.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
26th October 2020, 0:04
Agree. Penalty points should be for dangerous driving, not for going wide. This is exactly the type of OTT penalty that we were banging on about all this week, yet it seems nothing has changed.
Raveen
25th October 2020, 15:31
Am a ardent fan of force india and Racing point, I feel force india could have been bought by the mazepin family rather than the stroll family, perez would have been in the team, paired with a good driver. I feel stroll / Vettel pairing gonna be a disaster next season. Sergio perez should get a podium, to prove like a slap in the face for Racing point.
bosyber (@bosyber)
25th October 2020, 15:57
I really hope Vettel manages to turn it around and get everything from the car it has to offer; Perez this race wasn’t perfect either – could have avoided that Verstappen incident, and hasn’t been this year. The team also haven’t managed to maximise, and Stroll certainly had a few unlucky things going against him, but also wasn’t w/o fault himself, but if Vettel next year can be closer to his, say, 2017 form, he will be a big asset in terms of strategy and set up, I feel.
Raveen
25th October 2020, 15:34
Perez and mazepin is far better than stroll Vettel. Mazepin is pretty decent this season in F2
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
25th October 2020, 16:51
Well we don’t know if Vettel may come back with a 2015 like performance. And if anything, over the whole of this year, it is really hard to say Perez has done any better than Stroll.
Jordi Casademunt (@casjo)
25th October 2020, 19:14
Mazepin? The guy who took himself and his teammate out in the most stupid way, and then went on a rant on the radio against his team? The team that his dad basically bought for him?
If that guy wasn’t rich there wouldn’t be any team that would want him within a mile of their car. The fact he’ll make it into F1 is definitely worse than Stroll being in F1 (at least Stroll isn’t an insufferable ass).
Jose Lopes da Silva
25th October 2020, 22:16
“Mazepin is pretty decent.” Stroll got his share of fans, and Mazepin has already, at least, two of them, together with the person who said tha “well, better than Grosjean”.
F1oSaurus (@)
25th October 2020, 16:11
The penalty for Stroll made no sense. Sure he goes a bit awkwardly on the outside, but Norris should/could have left him space. Stroll left enough space for Norris.
Or, if they feel Stroll was wrong here, then Albon should have had the penalty instead of Hamilton in Austria.
Edvaldo
25th October 2020, 16:23
Norris left him space. In the inside line. He went for a much smaller gap on the outisde and that happened. Awful piece of driving by Stroll. Looked like an amateur, and compared to Perez, borderline embarrasing.
Hiland (@flyingferrarim)
25th October 2020, 17:44
The penalty on Stroll wasn’t because of the outside space…. its simply because Stroll cut down on Norris leaving no space at the apex. That is why he got the penalty. Norris made it hard for Stroll, that is what he’s supposed to do. Its up to Stroll to complete the pass cleanly.
Adam
25th October 2020, 16:52
Penalty points for the crash fair enough (although I dont think he deserved a penalty for it) but for track limits? Thats just ridiculous. Wheres grosjeans penalty points for track limits?
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
25th October 2020, 17:42
I think Stroll got 3 black and white flags earning him a 5 second penalty, then he got another black and white flag. Maybe it was this one that got him a penalty point. I think Grosjean just got 3 warnings and didn’t repeat it again.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
25th October 2020, 18:34
Obligatory joke about Stroll practising this move in FP2 and the repeating it in the race.
Jordi Casademunt (@casjo)
25th October 2020, 19:15
Practice does make perfect.
Dave
25th October 2020, 19:59
Me say alone ramp.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
26th October 2020, 12:11
Agreed with these penalty points. This will not go down as one of Lance’s better weekends.
pastaman (@)
26th October 2020, 12:39
Not sure why people compare different incidents at different corners on different tracks. Norris hugged the sausage kerb and left as much space as was possible for Stroll, who simply turned into the apex like another car wasn’t there. Hamilton had already lost the corner and understeered wide into Albon, who had left plenty of space for Hamilton to get through the corner.
pastaman (@)
26th October 2020, 12:40
This was meant as a reply to the comment comparing this incident with the one in Austria