Magnussen and Schumacher shown leniency by FIA stewards

Ian Parkes
Saturday 21 May 2022 20:00

Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher have escaped with warnings after the FIA stewards showed leniency to the Haas duo following Spanish Grand Prix qualifying.

The duo faced the possibility of grid penalties at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya after being summoned for 'driving unnecessarily slowly during qualifying'.

Magnussen and Schumacher had previously secured Haas' first double top-10 shoot-out positions since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, going on to qualify eighth and 10th respectively.

Those positions have been retained, with the stewards issuing a lengthy explanation as to what transpired during qualifying in which they claim there were "55 violations by 18 drivers of the race director’s event notes regarding minimum time between SC1 and SC2".

The report continued: "The stewards reviewed each case, and the majority of cases were a result of drivers following another driver who was also on an out lap, and as each driver attempted to create a gap to the preceding driver, they went successively slower until a 'train' of drivers exceeded the minimum time.

"However, on the five occasions when these 'trains' developed during the out laps of qualifying, the driver of car 47, Mick Schumacher, and the driver of car 20, Kevin Magnussen were the first, or nearly the first, out of the pits due to their garage location, and so were able to control their speed without having to be concerned about cars in front of them.

"Further, the stewards found that generally the cars that failed to follow the race director’s event note were following these two cars.

"The procedure required by the note is relatively new and was introduced during this season and has not involved a penalty up to this point.

"However, for the reasons above, the stewards determine that these drivers’ failure to follow the instructions was more under their control than any other drivers.

"As the procedure is new, and in view of the fact that other drivers did violate the instruction, but not to this degree, the stewards issue a warning to the drivers concerned.

"The stewards note that further violations may incur increased penalties not only for these drivers but for any competitor committing a similar breach in the future."