FIA "stress to all teams" communication "essential" after Pierre Gasly warning

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

FIA "stress to all teams" communication "essential" after Gasly warning

AlphaTauri driver was investigated for impeding Ferrari's Carlos Sainz

Ian Parkes

Saturday 4 December 2021 21:13

The FIA has urged all F1 teams to be diligent with its communication to their drivers in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix following the near misses across Saturday.

Lewis Hamilton was reprimanded and Mercedes fined €25,000 after the seven-time champion was caught trundling at one stage on a cool-down lap in final practice at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Haas driver Nikita Mazepin was forced to take evasive action by squeezing through a gap at turn eight between Hamilton's car to his left and a concrete wall to his right.

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In a fraught qualifying session, only one incident of impeding was investigated, with AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly escaping with an official warning for holding up Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.

Explaining their reasoning behind the decision, a stewards' report read: "The driver of car 10 [Gasly] stated that he saw car 55 [Sainz] approaching and thought it would pass on the left, in his view, having left sufficient room to do so.

"He then saw car 55 move across to the right so moved further left to give it room to pass.

"The driver of car 55 stated that he had a 'moment of confusion' so he went to the right at the last moment. "Neither car was on a fast lap, and this is a point of significance to the stewards in deciding to issue an official warning instead of any other penalty."

Noteworthy, however, is the final paragraph of the report which reads: "The stewards take this opportunity to stress to ALL TEAMS that due to the nature of this circuit, it is essential that efficient and timely radio communications be made to their drivers about cars that may be overtaking during the race [in the case of lapped cars]."