On the original formation lap, Lance Stroll had spun his Aston Martin at Turn 4 before bogging it in the gravel trap as he attempted to recover the car.
With the field lined up on the grid while the car was still being recovered, the start was aborted.
However, where the field should have remained on the grid, pole sitter Lando Norris drove away from the grid.
George Russell, Esteban Ocon, and Yuki Tsunoda followed the McLaren driver, while Pierre Gasly in fifth waited for instruction in his grid box.
So, too, did most others – including Franco Colapinto, who’d pulled up in the wrong grid slot.
Officials initially noted only Norris before Russell, Ocon, and Tsunoda’s names were added to the list.
Upon investigating the matter, they deemed the McLaren driver had indeed breached the regulations, and hit him with a €5000 (AUD $8250) fine. Russell received the same penalty.
“The FIA Formula One Race Director initiated the Aborted Start procedure indicating that the drivers should not leave the grid. This message was necessary as there was a car off track in Turn 4 (STR) that needed to be recovered.
“Although the signal was appropriately given the light panel illuminated as prescribed, and the teams notified by the messaging system, the driver left the grid and proceeded on a lap that he assumed to be an extra formation lap.
“As the driver was on the front row of the grid this triggered following drivers to take similar action.
“At some point the Race Director realizing that for practical reasons all
cars would now need to do an extra formation lap gave an instruction to the teams for all cars to proceed and return to the grid to follow the correct aborted start procedure.
“In the opinion of the stewards the driver NOR precipitated the action of the drivers on the grid directly behind him.”
As such, only Norris and Russell were penalised.
“In the opinion of the Stewards although the driver breached the regulation this was influenced by the driver ahead of him and as such he was not predominately responsible for the breach,” the summary pertaining to Tsunoda and Ocon noted.
“As such the stewards decide to take no further action having held the driver immediately ahead of him at fault.”
At the eventual race start, Russell jumped into an early lead over Norris, the pair running first and second before pitting shortly before a mid-race red flag.
Russell ended the 69-lap race fourth while Norris slipped to sixth, one place ahead of Yuki Tsunoda,
Esteban Ocon, however, had remained on track until the red flag, which saw him lead the race for a time before slipping behind eventual race winner Max Verstappen.
The outcome of the aborted start investigation therefore leaves the finishing order unchanged.
Post-race, Mercedes was also fined €10,000 for adjusting the tyre pressure of its cars on the grid, while Carlos Sainz was given a reprimand for dangerous driving after crashing and attempting to recover his Ferrari.
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