Raikkonen lands reprimand for FP3 pit lane confusion
Kimi Raikkonen has been handed his first reprimand of the season after a pit lane mix-up during the final practice session ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
After running wide at Turn 20 during FP3, Raikkonen initially appeared to bail out of his lap and head towards the pit lane late on, crossing the white line, before aborting the pit-in and crossing the white line for the second time to continue on track.
Kimi Raikkonen has been handed his first reprimand of the season after a pit lane mix-up during the final practice session ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
After running wide at Turn 20 during FP3, Raikkonen initially appeared to bail out of his lap and head towards the pit lane late on, crossing the white line, before aborting the pit-in and crossing the white line for the second time to continue on track.
Having seen Lewis Hamilton penalised by the FIA Stewards for a similar incident at the end of FP1, Raikkonen had been given the same punishment with a reprimand. Despite crossing the white lines twice, it was considered the same incident and treated as one penalty.
It marks the Ferrari driver’s first reprimand of the season and only applies to the 2018 season. If any driver picks up three reprimands across a season they will be hit with a grid penalty from the FIA Stewards. Therefore, assuming Raikkonen avoids two reprimands during qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix he will escape any serious punishment.
