Racing Bulls have been slapped with a fine after an unsafe release for Isack Hadjar into Max Verstappen in Chinese Grand Prix qualifying. As the field prepared for their second flying laps in Q3, Verstappen was making his way down the pit-lane, as Racing Bulls released Hadjar from the garage, cutting across the path of the world champion. Verstappen was forced to take avoiding action and was seen shaking his head, as he went onto qualify in fourth, with Hadjar banking seventh, ahead of team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in ninth. In their verdict, the stewards found a simple breach of Article 34.14a of the sporting regulations, and fined Racing Bulls €5,000. The full stewards verdict is available below as Hadjar kept his seventh place on the grid.
Isack Hadjar verdict in full
The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 6 (Isack Hadjar), the driver of Car 1 (Max Verstappen), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and in-car video evidence and determine as follows. The driver of Car 6 stated that he followed the instructions of his pit lane representative (‘the Number 1’) and came out of the garage when requested to do so. He was slightly late in exiting the garage but in any event it was clear that the release was late and that resulted in Car 6 being released into the path of Car 1. The driver of Car 1 had to take evasive action to avoid a collision or risk flat spotting his tyres if he braked hard. The team representative accepted that the team made a mistake in this instance. We accordingly imposed a fine of €5,000 to the team.
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