Multiple drivers penalised after Melbourne Sprint Race

Following the Melbourne Sprint Race, four drivers have been assigned penalties, while the in-race penalty of Kacper Sztuka has been overturned.

Firstly, Sztuka was handed a five-second time penalty during the Sprint for exceeding track limits four times.

However, after examining video evidence after the race, the Stewards determined that the Polish driver had exceeded track limits three times, not four, making the penalty assigned to the MP Motorsport driver invalid.

With the five-seconds subtracted from his race time, Sztuka climbs from 24th to 16th.

Meanwhile, Dino Beganovic has been handed a five-second time penalty for forcing another car off the circuit.

The PREMA Racing driver was judged to have gained a lasting advantage against the #11 Campos Racing car of Sebastián Montoya.

After the Stewards heard from both drivers and examined all available evidence, they concluded that Beganovic had gained a lasting advantage with the move. As a result, the Swede falls from sixth in the classification to 13th.

Gabriele Minì, Alexander Dunne, Montoya, Leonardo Fornaroli and Christian Mansell are each are promoted up one place, with the ART Grand Prix driver the final point-scorer in 10th.

Moreover, Nikita Bedrin has also been given a 10-second time penalty following the conclusion of the Sprint Race.

The PHM AIX Racing driver was found to have gained a lasting advantage against Montoya by not ceding position to the Campos driver after shortcutting Turn 10, having gone side-by-side with the Colombian through Turn 9. The Stewards determined that by doing so, Bedrin had gained an advantage.

As a result, the Italian drops from eighth to 21st in the classification.

Additionally, Jenzer Motorsport’s Max Esterson has been handed a five-second time penalty following the race. The American driver was found to have exceeded track limits four times during the Sprint. With his penalty applied, Esterson drops from 19th to 26th.

Finally, Tommy Smith has also been handed a 10-second time penalty following the Sprint Race.

The Van Amersfoort Racing driver was found to have caused a collision with PHM AIX Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, contact that left the Thai driver out of the race.

The Stewards determined that Smith had been wholly responsible for the incident and elected to assign a 10-second time penalty as a result.

With the penalty applied, Smith falls from 25th to 27th in the classification.