Ferrari has been fined by the FIA for the fuel breach with Charles Leclerc in the F1 Abu Dhabi GP, which enables him to keep third.
Even before the grand prix started, Leclerc was put under investigation for a fuel breach where the information presented by Ferrari did not match with the FIA’s numbers as they then asked the stewards to step in and look into the matter.
The stewards asked the team to meet at 19:45 local time. Following the podium celebrations, the #16 car of Leclerc was sealed off by the FIA and placed near their garage. After hours of deliberations, the stewards finally delivered their outcome.
It was a breach of Article 12.1.1.i of the FIA International Sporting Code and Ferrari were handed a fine of 50,000 euros as a result, which allows the team as well as Leclerc to keep third in the F1 Abu Dhabi GP result.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto was confident that there was nothing wrong done by the team and that these checks are normal for the FIA to do. He even explained what happens with the checks and what the team needs to do to adhere to the guidelines.
Here’s the full FIA directive on Ferrari:
“The Stewards heard from the team representative, FIA Technical Delegate and the FIA Head of Single Seater Technical Matters. TD/014-19 required teams to declare the amount of fuel that they intended to put in the car for the laps to the grid, the formation lap, the race, the in-lap and any fire-ups that would be needed.
“The Technical Delegate was able to confirm the fuel mass put in the tank by checking in accordance with the procedure specified in TD/014-19. There was a difference of 4.88kgs between the team’s declaration for car 16 and the Technical Delegate’s measured fuel mass. The team’s declaration was therefore inaccurate and constituted a breach of the Technical Directive.
“This in turn constitutes an infringement of Article 12.1.1.i of the International Sporting Code. Accordingly, the stewards determined that the team should be fined €50,000 for its inaccurate declaration. Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Article 9.1.1 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.”
Here’s how the F1 Abu Dhabi GP panned out
