FIA confirms Ferrari punishment after Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris pit lane crash

Ferrari has been hit with a €10,000 fine for an unsafe release following Charles Leclerc’s collision with Lando Norris in the pit lane during FP2 at the Singapore Grand Prix, the FIA has announced.

The McLaren driver ended up wiping out his front wing against the pitwall when Ferrari released Leclerc straight into Norris’ path, with the FIA launching an investigation immediately after the second practice session.

Ferrari fined by FIA after Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris clash

The second practice session at Marina Bay had already been red-flagged as Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson ripped the right-hand side of his car off against the barriers at Turn 17.

With the teams anticipating the official reveal of the timing of the session restart, some teams attempted to pre-empt this reveal by queueing at the end of the pitlane.

During this flurry of car releases, both McLarens left their garages to trundle down the pitlane, while Ferrari, further down the row of garages, released Leclerc.

Onboard camera footage looking straight at Leclerc showed the Monegasque had put blind faith in his mechanics as he didn’t look to his right to spot oncoming traffic, and the Ferrari driver collided with the left-front wheel of Norris’ McLaren.

This resulted in Norris being bounced into the pitwall concrete, resulting in immediate damage to his car as his front wing broke apart. Radioing in, Norris confirmed he was OK as he pointed out that Leclerc had driven straight into him.

The FIA confirmed that Ferrari has been handed a fine of €10,000 following a post-session investigation.

The stewards’ verdict read: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 16 (LEC), team representatives and reviewed video and in-car video evidence.

“After a red flag period, several cars exited their garages. Car 16 (LEC) was initially instructed by a team member to leave his pit box.

“At that moment however, it was overlooked that car 4 (NOR) was already passing in the fast lane, approaching the Ferrari pit box and directly into the path of LEC.

“The team member, who was responsible for the safe conduct of releasing car 16, misjudged the situation and gave unclear instructions to LEC, who could not see NOR’s car.

“As a result, both cars collided in the fast lane.

“Having noted precedents for this type of breach, the Stewards are of the view that this breach warrants a more severe penalty than previously applied hence the penalty above is imposed.”

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