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Alfa Romeo expected Lance Stroll to be hit with an extra penalty for forcing Valtteri Bottas off track during the Australian Grand Prix – while Stroll himself was bemused by the sanction he did get, for weaving.
Alfa’s gripe related on lap 40 of the race, after Stroll got the jump on Bottas on the run to Turn 3 when the VSC was deployed. This followed Bottas passing Stroll using the DRS on the start/finish straight just before the race was neutralised.
Bottas was on the outside line approaching the right-hander, with Stroll’s front wheels just ahead of Bottas’s rear in the braking zone. Bottas braked late, meaning Stroll lost a little ground in the braking zone – but he was entitled to continue the move according to the overtaking guidance issued to teams earlier this year. This is provided the car being passed is left room at the exit and not forced off.
LAP 41/58
Stroll squeezes his way past Bottas
That was veeeery close 😅#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/dNPSgXSXg9
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 10, 2022
However, Bottas had to steer left, then was forced wide at the exit of the corner, with the left side of his car on the artificial grass. He rejoined before Turn 4, but by then he had not only lost ninth place to Stroll, but also 10th to Pierre Gasly.
Bottas said “Stroll made me go off the track – review the overtake” over the radio, but the stewards took no action.
Alfa Romeo head of trackside engineering Xevi Pujolar said after the race that “we expected him to get a penalty, it was not very nice that he didn’t, but there was no penalty”.
Asked by The Race whether the expectation of a penalty was rooted in this year’s penalty guidance, Pujolar replied: “Yeah. We thought he would get the penalty but the decision was no”.
Potentially, as Bottas was never entirely outside the white line that dictates track limits given his front-right wheel appeared to remain in contact with it throughout, played a part.
But asked after The Race about Stroll’s driving, Bottas described it as on the limit and suggested his aggression earned him a penalty.
However, this was at a point where he believed the five-second penalty Stroll was hit with was for the Turn 3 move rather than weaving in front of him on the main straight two laps earlier.
“On the limit I would say, yes,” said Bottas when asked about Stroll’s driving.
“It made me go off the track at some points. I don’t think that’s ideal.
“But I know obviously he’s one of the more aggressive ones and that penalised him today.”
Bottas was then told that Stroll’s penalty was for weaving, and he agreed that too was “on the limit”.
Stroll described the Turn 3 move as “good racing”, but felt the weaving penalty was unfair.
“He was sleeping on the virtual safety car restart, so I caught him sleeping,” said Stroll. “I felt that was good racing.
“It’s annoying to get penalised [for weaving] because I don’t really understand their reasoning behind it, but it didn’t change our final position.
“We see guys weaving all the time. It’s just the last move really.
“You can weave down the straight as long as you don’t weave when the guy’s approaching very close behind you.
“I’m weaving to break the slipstream, not to try and defend and then they penalised me for it. There’s a lot of funny decisions going on right now.”
The contentious pass was the second time in the race that Stroll overtook Bottas. The first was on lap 28 when Stroll dived up the inside of the Alfa Romeo in the Turn 11 right-hander to take 12th place.
Although Bottas did have to open the steering to give Stroll space, he stayed well within track limits and had no complaints about the pass over the radio.
