Mazepin escapes F1 penalty despite ‘ruining’ Kubica’s qualifying lap

Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo stand-in Kubica complained about Mazepin after the Russian rookie appeared to block his rival at the first Lesmo.

Mazepin, who was on an out-lap, had been warned that several drivers were on fast laps behind him. The Haas driver attempted to get out of the way of Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and finally Kubica.

The 36-year-old Pole claimed that Mazepin completely “ruined” his opening lap in Q1.

“Unfortunately, my first run was ruined by Mazepin, who was in the middle of the track,” Kubica explained.

“Honestly when I was approaching, I thought he had an issue but he didn’t have an issue, he just accelerated.”

However the stewards ultimately concluded that Mazepin had done everything reasonably possible to avoid impeding Kubica and therefore decided to take no further action.

That was despite noting that Mazepin’s lap was 22 seconds slower than the required minimum time.

“The driver explained that he was stopped by the several cars ahead of him that were driving very slowly and this left him unable to drive any faster in turn six,” the stewards noted.

“The stewards reviewed the video and the team radio and agreed that both the driver and the team did everything reasonable to avoid affecting any other driver. Therefore, the stewards take no further action.”

Meanwhile, both Aston Martin and Alpine have each been fined €5,000 for a pitlane incident during Q2.

Aston Martin’s fine related to an unsafe release of Sebastian Vettel into the path of Lewis Hamilton, while Alpine was punished for Esteban Ocon’s “team member in the pit lane operating in an unsafe manner.”