The stewards have issued grid penalties to both Campos Racing drivers following Friday’s qualifying at the F2 Austrian GP. Arvid Lindblad and Pepe Martí have both received three place grid drops for both the Sprint and Feature race this weekend.
Lindblad penalized for double impeding incident
Arvid Lindblad was initially referred to the stewards after impeding MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe and the DAMS Lucas Oil car of Jak Crawford between turns 6 and 7.
After reviewing video evidence and hearing from all parties involved, the stewards determined Lindblad unnecessarily blocked both competitors. This violated Article 31.6 of the FIA Formula 2 Sporting Regulations.
He received a 3 place grid drop, dropping him from 12th to 15th. The penalty represents a significant blow to Lindblad’s weekend prospects at the F2 Austrian GP.
Martí compounds Campos Racing’s penalty problems
While Lindblad faced the stewards, his teammate Martí was dealing with his own impeding investigation. The Spanish driver allegedly blocked AIX Racing’s Cian Shields at the same problematic corner sequence.
Video evidence showed Martí’s car impeding Shields during a crucial qualifying run. After hearing testimony from both drivers and team representatives, the stewards imposed identical grid penalties on the Campos driver as his teammate.
Martí’s three place drops match his teammate’s punishment, creating a difficult weekend for the team. He has now been dropped from 9th to 12th.
Championship implications for the penalized duo
The grid penalties the Campos duo received couldn’t have come at a worse time for either driver’s championship aspirations.
Lindblad enters the weekend needing strong points to maintain his championship momentum. He currently sits 3rd in the championship, 8 points behind championship leader Alex Dunne. The penalty forces him to rely purely on race pace rather than track position.
Similarly, Marti’s title hopes take a significant hit as he faces the prospect of fighting through traffic. He currently sits 7th in the championship. Both drivers must now maximize their race craft to get a decent number of points at this weekend’s F2 Austrian GP.
