Round 7 post-Feature Race penalties

Three drivers have been handed penalties following today’s FIA Formula 2 Feature Race in Spa-Francorchamps, whilst podium finisher Nikita Mazepin has been given a suspended five-place grid drop. MP Motorsport pair Felipe Drugovich and Nobuharu Matsushita have both been penalised, as has ART Grand Prix’s Marcus Armstrong.

Mazepin has been given a suspended five-place grid drop for “potentially dangerous and unsportsmanlike conduct.” The Stewards determined that the Hitech driver approached the parc-ferme at too great a speed, before making contact with the second-place marker. This followed the news of a 5s time penalty, which cost him Saturday’s Feature Race win in the final stages of the race for forcing Yuki Tsunoda off track.

Hitech had also been under investigation during the race for an unsafe release of the Russian, but they have only been given a reprimand for this.

Matsushita has been given a three-place grid drop for Sunday’s Sprint Race. The MP Motorsport driver was found to have pulled across the nose of Drugovich’s car, which damaged his teammate’s front wing. The Stewards have determined that the Japanese driver was wholly responsible for the contact.

Drugovich, who ended up in P20, has also been disqualified from the race for making his mandatory pit stop on the final lap, which is a breach of article 37.6 in the sporting regulations. Both MP drivers will start from the back of the grid tomorrow.

Finally, Armstrong was found to have overtaken Jack Aitken off track on the final corner of the final lap, which gained him a lasting advantage. The ART driver has subsequently been given a 5s time penalty and falls from 13th to 15th.