F1 stewards give Red Bull penalty for ‘third car’ before Qatar Grand Prix even begins.

Sergio Perez crashed during the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint on Saturday, meaning Red Bull had a repair job to do overnight to ensure the Mexican could take part in the main race

Sergio Perez will start the Qatar Grand Prix from the pit lane and is also expected to get a time penalty before the race even begins.

The Mexican crashed during the Sprint as he tangled with two other cars heading into a corner. As a result, his Red Bull chassis was damaged beyond repair.

This damaged chassis still had other components installed when covered overnight, according to parc ferme regulations. However, the team submitted a self-published technical inspection sheet on Sunday showing that Pérez’s replacement chassis had been treated.

Under F1 regulations, a replacement chassis can only be built so long as it is still equipped with components including a survival cell, which protects the driver in the event of an accident. If additional parts are placed on this replacement chassis too early, it will be considered a “third vehicle” and violate regulations.

FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer reported Red Bull to management four hours before the race started. “Last night, the Oracle Red Bull Racing team worked on car #11, chassis #02, two hours after the Sprint checkered flag,” he wrote in an official document.

“Chassis 01 was damaged beyond repair in the Sprint accident. Chassis 01 and all other components installed on it at the time of Sprint were properly serviced at 23:00:
08, two hours after the checkered flag was displayed at the end of the Sprint.

Chassis 02 has been assembled without supervision of more than one assembly including a survival cell as defined in article 27.2 of the SR, which must be considered as the third vehicle available to the competitor . Self-declared technical inspection form for vehicle 11, chassis 02 was submitted at 2:00 p.m.:
05 today, 55 minutes before curfew. As this does not comply with Clauses 27.2, 40.3 and 40.6 of the SR as well as TD021 G, I will refer this matter to Management for consideration. » And the stewards decided that starting in the pit lane was in line with the rules violation, while a time penalty was also expected but has yet to be confirmed.

This situation is similar to what happened to Williams two weeks ago at the Japanese Grand Prix. Bauer also felt that the team’s spare chassis had been overbuilt following Logan Sargeant’s crash in qualifying, and the American was therefore penalized before the start of the Suzuka race.

Later, explaining what happened, team manager James Vowles said:
“We know the regulations and it was just a mistake, it was a miscommunication – ultimately because as a group we really wanted to make sure that we met the required deadlines.” demand. However, therefore, two points have been made about the vehicle.” that shouldn’t have been said about the car at that time of day. This must be done five hours before the race and it is done a little earlier. »