RB F1 driver Yuki Tsunoda has been given a 5-second time penalty for an unsafe release incident that occurred during the pre-race discovery laps at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Tsunoda was released in front of McLaren’s Lando Norris, who locked up his tires after slamming on the brakes to avoid colliding with the Japanese driver.
As a results, the FIA stewards have awarded Tsunoda a 5-second post-race penalty.
“The Stewards reviewed video, team radio and in-car video evidence and heard from the drivers and team representatives of Car 22 and Car 4 and determined that Car 22 was released unsafely from the garage during the reconnaissance lap into the path of Car 4 which had to take evasive action to avoid a collision,” the FIA decision document read.
“The driver of Car 22 admitted that he did not see the Number 1 in his team signalling not to come out as his attention was diverted towards exiting the car from the garage.
“He apologised for his oversight.
“An unsafe release during the race (which would include the reconnaissance lap) would typically attract a five-second time penalty, which is what we imposed.
“In addition, for an infringement of this nature, it would be appropriate to award 1 penalty point. Given that this took place during the reconnaissance lap as opposed to the race proper, we decided to not impose the penalty point.”