Explained: Why Oscar Piastri will escape a Singapore GP grid penalty

Oscar Piastri will not serve a grid penalty in Singapore despite being handed an in-race time penalty during the Azerbaijan GP.

Piastri crashed out on the opening lap in Baku after dropping to the rear of the pack courtesy of a fluffed start.

No Singapore GP hangover for Oscar Piastri

The Australian moved from his ninth-place starting slot before the lights hand gone out. As he reacted to that faux pas, his McLaren went into anti-stall and the field roared by him.

His race was over less than half a lap later when he pinched a brake and skated off the road at Turn 5.

Shortly after he clamoured out of his stricken McLaren, officials handed him a five-second time penalty for a jump start.

Fernando Alonso received the same, the Aston Martin driver having reacted to Piastri moving off the line.

The Spaniard served his penalty at his pit stop, as is the norm in such situations. But, having retired from the race, Piastri was unable to do likewise.

Under the F1 Sporting Regulations, there are details on how penalties that are not cleared within a race should be dealt with.

Piastri was initially in breach of Article 48.1.a of the regulations, which relates to moving after the four second light is illuminated to signal the commencement of the start procedure, and the start signal being given (all five lights going out).

As a result, he was liable for a penalty under Article 54.3, of which a jump start draws one of three potential outcomes (though a total of four penalties are listed); a five-second time penalty, a 10-second time penalty, or a drive-through penalty. In this instance, officials deemed the least severe was appropriate.

However, Article 54.3 goes on to state that, “If any of the four (4) penalties above are imposed upon a driver, and that driver is unable to serve the penalty due to being unclassified in the sprint session or the race in the case of a) or b) or due to retirement from the sprint session or the race in the case of c) or d), the stewards may impose a grid place penalty on the driver at their next race.”

Based on that, it would suggest that Piastri was potentially liable for a penalty as stewards “may” impose one.

However, a further document also comes into play, namely the Guidelines for Penalties and Points, which outlines how stewards should respond to incidents with a view to increased consistency.

It includes details on jump start penalties, with potential outcomes mirroring those in the Sporting Regulations.

However, the key element is the final page of the document, which outlines a number of additional elements. Primarily, those deal with the treatment of penalty points, but do also touch on in-race penalties that are not served.

Specifically, it states: “In cases where there is a single 5s penalty which a driver is unable to serve due to retirement, the Stewards will not convert that into a grid penalty for a subsequent race. However, if there is more than one penalty, the Stewards may convert the 5s (and other) penalties into a grid penalty.”

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Therefore, while officials have the power to penalise Piastri in Singapore, the guidelines from which they operation do not recommended they do based on the penalty he was awarded in-race.

That guideline position is one that was reached in consultation with the teams ahead of the season, and is not one that officials are expected to overrule.

Therefore, Piastri’s uncharacteristic weekend in Azerbaijan, where he thrice found the wall (twice in a significant way) and jumped the start, is not expected to come with a hangover in Singapore.

With now seven races remaining, he holds on to the championship lead, though that has reduced to 25 points to McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

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