5a599d99633cf4f4f1eaefcda4886baec972ece3

Stroll picks up post-race penalty for bizarre call

09:30, 02 Jul 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

Lance Stroll received a 10-second time penalty after the conclusion of the Austrian Grand Prix for ignoring blue flags. The Canadian had finished 13th on track however his time penalty relegates him behind teammate Sergey Sirotkin into 14th place.

The stewards' statement on the matter included a bizarre detail that the team told him to ignore the blue flag warnings for a lap before letting Sergio Perez, the car behind in this instance, past.

“The driver of car #18 admitted he had seen the blue flags, light panels and the light on his steering wheel.

“He stated his team had told him to attempt to un-lap himself but had not advised him to let car #11 pass until almost one lap of flags and lights had been displayed to him.

“The reason for awarding three penalty points is that the issue of blue flags was specifically raised at the Friday night drivers’ briefing and confirmed in the race director’s notes, in particular the requirement to allow the following car to pass ‘at the first available opportunity’.

“In this instance the driver decided to give priority to the team instruction (to un-lap himself) over the regulations and the race director’s specific instructions (regarding the blue flag procedure).”

The penalty hardly helps Williams' efforts as they look to turn their disappointing 2018 around.