Liam Lawson escapes costly Monaco penalty after 'clock confusion'

Liam Lawson has escaped a costly Monaco Grand Prix penalty after passing a red light at the end of FP1.

Following Fernando Alonso's late smash against the wall under braking for the sea-front chicane, the session was red-flagged, but resumed with less than a minute to go to allow drivers to complete a practice start on the grid. 

However, as Lawson trundled down the pit-lane to join the track, the red lights came on to signal the end of the session, but the Racing Bulls driver still passed the line and joined the track. 

This was investigated by the stewards, but following confusion with clocks at the pit-exit, Lawson was not penalised.

"The driver was warned he had 7 seconds left when he left the garage. He then travelled down the pit lane, and the green light changed to red when he was approximately 0.8 seconds from crossing the pit lane exit," read the stewards' report.

"He then reported over the team radio that he had been focusing on the countdown clock, which is located above the pit exit, which still showed two seconds remaining before the light turned red.

The Stewards note that this countdown clock is not official and does not override the red light at the pit exit. There is no official synchronisation between the countdown clock and the red light at the pit exit.

"The Stewards also note that, considering the driver had less than a second to react, had he tried to stop, he might have ended up coming to a halt on a live track.

"In view of the above mitigating circumstances, no penalty will be imposed."

Elsewhere, Lawson's team-mate Arvid Lindblad received a formal warning for impeding Oscar Piastri at Tabac earlier in the session.