Photo: FIA Formula 3
Christian Lundgaard and David Beckmann have been disqualified from FIA Formula 3 qualifying after their physios were deemed to be involved in the operation of their cars.
The two ART Grand Prix drivers had their lap times deleted, putting them to the back of the grid at the Red Bull Ring, after their physios were seen?holding a air blower next to the primary engine intake on the Dallara F3 2019 cars.
It was deemed they were cooling the engine rather than the drivers, who were struggling in the record Austrian heat, although ART defended itself by saying the drivers? physios were not acting on behalf of the team.
After lengthy steward discussion, the stewards dismissed ART’s claim and considered the matter to be a “serious breach of the Operational Staff regulations”, which dictates how many team members can be directly involved in the running of the car. The physios were not listed among those operational staff.
Prior to their disqualification, Lundgaard and Beckmann had been set to start fifth and ninth respectively, and will now start from the back of the grid rather than the pitlane.
The greatest beneficiary of their disqualification is Prema’s championship leader Robert Shwartzman, who now starts from 10th place.
Penalties after qualifying were also handed out to HWA Racelab’s Keyvan Andres and Campos Racing’s Alessio Deledda, who were found to have sped under double yellow waved flags when Shwartzman’s car was being recovered after he stopped on track.
Both received five-place drops down the order, leaving them in 26th and 28th on the grid.