Round 2 post Qualifying penalties

Following today’s F3 Qualifying at Imola, four drivers were penalised.

Rookie Enzo Trulli received a 3 place grid drop for tomorrow’s Sprint Race after it was determined that he had caused a collision with Arthur Leclerc. The Carlin driver was on slick tyres and coming into Turn 1. He wanted to overtake the PREMA racer on the inside and started to understeer. He could not avoid the collision. Trulli explained that the damp part of the track caused him to lose control of the car. He had classified P28. He will start from P29.

Oliver Bearman also received a 3 place grid drop for tomorrow’s race for unnecessarily impeding David Vidales at Turn 17. The PREMA driver explained he was preparing for a fast lap and was on the dry line at T17. He did see the Campos racer behind him approaching with a faster speed. However, the Briton continued to drive slowly on the ideal line. Vidales confirmed that he was on a fast lap and had to break to avoid a collision with Bearman. The Briton will start from P11.

Moreover, Vidales was himself found guilty of impeding teammate Hunter Yeany at Turn 18. The Spaniard explained that due to avoiding a collision with Bearman, he went off track at Turn 17. Before re-joining the track between Turns 17 and 18, Vidales saw Yeany exiting T17. However, on re-joing the track, the American was right behind the Spanish driver and had to brake as he had nowhere to go. The Stewards determined that Vidales impeded Yeany. Therefore, he was handed a 3 place grid drop for the Sprint Race. He had classified P27 and will start from P28.

Finally, Zak O’Sullivan also received a drop of three grid places for Saturday’s race for impeding Reece Ushijima at Turn 2. The Carlin racer explained that he was on an outlap after having switched to slick tyres and was on the dry line when approaching T2. He was focused on letting another car by and thus only noticed the VAR driver at the last moment. Due to the switch to slick tyres, O’Sullivan was also struggling to gain grip. Ushijima was on a fast lap and had to brake for the Briton at the apex of Turn 2. O’Sullivan will start from P8.