Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc avoid penalties after dramatic FP3 at Spanish GP

Sparks flew at Saturday’s Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix.

We’re not talking about qualifying (qualifying hasn’t happened yet), but in the words of the legendary Allen Iverson, we’re talking about practice.

The final free practice session before qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix saw emotions erupt over two separate incidents between Lance Stroll and Lewis Hamilton, and Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. After the session, all four drivers were summoned to meet with the race stewards, after which race officials decided to apply leniency rather than impose grid penalties.

Let’s take a closer look at both incidents and the stewards’ decisions.

Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll

Let’s start with the accident between Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll. The incident happened during the session, near the apex of Turn 5. As you can see, Hamilton was driving slowly on the right side of the track when Stroll approached him from behind. The seven-time Drivers’ Champion can be seen waving at Stroll and admitting to his team over the radio that he didn’t see the Aston Martin driver, before Stroll tries to turn into Hamilton’s W15. F1TV What is probably called “…a little sidepod scolding”:

Both drivers were called to meet with race officials at 2pm local time. Immediately after the hearing, race officials announced their decision to reprimand Stroll.

As the jury’s report shows, Stroll admitted at the hearing that he “wanted to show his annoyance to the other driver by pulling over on the exit”, but the hearing considered the contact between the two to have been “accidental” and, although Stroll’s movement was deemed “sudden”, the jury did not consider it to be “dangerous” and therefore considered a reprimand appropriate, in line with previous decisions.

Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc

The collision between Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc happened late in the session, with the Ferrari driver coming across Norris around Turn 5 during the final push lap of FP3. The McLaren driver was travelling at a much slower pace and had strayed from the racing line down the left side of the track.

Leclerc was annoyed when he ran into Norris and made it known to the McLaren driver.

After the session, both Norris and Leclerc were summoned to appear before the race stewards at 2:15pm local time, and just before qualifying, the stewards made the exact same decision as they had made in relation to the Stroll and Hamilton incident: a reprimand for Leclerc.

Similar to Stroll’s incident, Leclerc said he felt he had been cut off by Norris and was “…upset”. Leclerc then admitted that he had aborted his push lap, but said he had “misjudged the position of the car” and had consequently made contact with Norris.

Race officials deemed the driving to be “erratic” but not “dangerous”, as was the case with Stroll, and decided the reprimand was in line with previous decisions.

But some questioned whether these decisions were the right approach. F1TV Ahead of qualifying, David Coulthard said both Stroll and Leclerc would consider themselves “incredibly lucky to have only gotten a caution”.

Remember, this was just practice.

Qualifying begins in a few minutes.