Dennis Hauger not only lost the lead, but was penalised – Prema lodged an appeal after the F2 sprint, which was rejected by the FIA
It was certainly one of the most controversial Formula 2 races in recent history: Dennis Hauger was leading the sprint race in Jeddah in his Prema car when the safety car had to be deployed. After an order from the race control, he drove through the pit lane, but he was the only driver. Not only did he fall behind, but he was also penalised. But what was behind it?
Prema immediately went on the barricades and appealed the decision to the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). This was rejected, however, because the FIA does not consider the race control to be responsible for the situation and holds the team responsible for the incident. So no concessions will be made to Hauger.
Amaury Cordeel had an accident during the race, which is why the safety car had to be deployed. Since the race control did not yet know exactly where the damaged vehicle was, the drivers and thus also the leading Hauger were instructed to drive through the pit lane. However, this decision was taken back again, which was noticed by all the drivers, except Hauger.
Hauger to the pits, the rest not
He drove through the pit lane and thus dropped back to twelfth place. But as the pit lane was officially closed, a stop-and-go penalty of ten seconds was added. The Prema driver consequently finished the race in last place, which is why Prema took issue with the decision on the part of race control and appealed.
However, the current Formula 3 champion did not get justice: The first message from the race director was unmistakable, the drivers should drive through the pit lane. However, when it became clear to the race director where the damaged car was, the decision was reversed and the pit lane was even closed because it was not necessary to guide the cars through the lane.
The competition followed the second order, while Hauger drove through the pits as his team had passed on to him. Prema explained the procedure: “During the second yellow, the race control monitor instructed us to drive through the pit lane. A few seconds later there was a contrary message that the pit lane was closed. “
FIA justifies decision
Prema had then approached race control and asked for clarification. The team was reportedly still instructed to direct its drivers through the pit lane – a fatal mistake, as it ultimately turned out. “Hauger followed the instruction but was the only driver, which is why he lost the lead. After the ten-second penalty, he even dropped back to 18th place. “
The FIA has commented on the allegations as follows: “The short successive messages A and B merely reflect the normal flow of information in a racing accident.” It said race control withdrew the instruction when video images showed that it was not necessary to direct the field through the pit lane.
The race management report said, “The race director informed all teams via the official means of communication of the status of the pit entry as known to him throughout the incident. “
FIA does not see race control as responsible
“For a full minute after Prema believed they had been asked to allow their cars to pass through the pit lane, timing page three (which was available to them) and the pit entry status boards at turn 27 as well as on the main straight (which were available to the driver when he was at the scene) indicated that the pit entry was closed, but the team did nothing to clarify the situation further with the race director or to communicate further with their driver. “
“The driver of the 1 car admitted that he saw the “pit entry closed” signs and pitted anyway on the team’s instructions. He did not ask the team again when he noticed the “Closed” signs,” the statement continued.
The fact that Prema was the only team to lead its driver through the pit lane is taken by the FIA as further evidence that the fault lay with the racing team: “No other car in the field, including the other Prema car, followed the leader into the pit lane entrance. Car 1 was given a ten-second penalty for entering the pit lane when it was closed.”
The appeal was rejected on the following grounds: “This penalty is unappealable. An appeal against the classification, such as this one, is not an appropriate means to reverse such a penalty.” According to the FIA, no mistakes were made on the part of the race director and the entire race management. A proper reaction to the situation on the track had been made.