The Miami Grand Prix weekend goes into the final practice session. F1 teams and drivers have the final 60 minutes to adjust settings and prepare the car for a meaningful weekend session. Will Red Bull continue to impress, or will Ferrari and Mercedes make some progress ahead of qualifying this afternoon? You can find it on the GPblog live blog below.
Nick de Vries finished the Spanish GP with the same finish he started with: fourteenth. The AlphaTauri driver was aiming for points on the familiar track of Barcelona, but a poor start prevented him from actually breaking into the top ten.
The German manufacturer saw Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finish second and third respectively in Barcelona, behind race winner Max Verstappen, taking the team up to 11 in the constructors’ standings. second.
But a few hours after the race, the team was notified that team members may have violated the regulations for the post-race parc ferme area set up in the pit lane.
The FIA asked a representative from Mercedes, plus Hamilton and Russell’s medical examiners, to report to the stewards on Sunday night.
The teams are regularly informed before the race who and who are not allowed to enter the parc ferme after the race.
There are also strict limits on how long physiotherapists are allowed to interact with drivers before the podium ceremony.
In a note sent to the teams ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday morning, the FIA said: “In addition to the team mechanics (and cooling fans if necessary), officials and the FIA pre-approved TV crew and the FIA Federation-approved photographers, no one else will be allowed into the designated area once the car enters the Parc Ferme area (no team PR).
George Russell, Mercedes-AMG, 3rd, celebrates at Parc Ferme
Furthermore, it added: “The driver physiotherapist must wait outside the cooling room behind the podium until the end of the podium ceremony in accordance with the instructions given to all teams by media representatives.”
This is not the first time that a driver’s physio has been in breach of parc ferme regulations.
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At last year’s Austrian Grand Prix, the top three drivers Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Hamilton were all suspended and fined €10,000 for similar parc ferme violations.
That was because the team doctor entered the parc ferme area in the post-match moments, violating the guidelines issued earlier in the day.
Should a violation occur, the circumstances could be subject to similar penalties, rather than risking a sporting penalty that could affect the outcome of the match.