Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Campos Racing was fined €5,000 at Formula 2’s Bahrain season opener for a pitlane incident during the feature race involving one of the sponsors of its driver Ralph Boschung.
According to the stewards document “a Campos sponsor (The Moon) team guest, left the area designated for guests” behind the team trolleys in the pitlane.
“He walked into the working side of the hot pitlane in the immediate vicinity of the medical car. He remained there with his back to potential race traffic taking photos. In that position, he also significantly blocked the left-side mirror of the medical car’s view into the pitlane. His location, actions, and the direction he was facing all created significant safety issues and put him at risk. He remained there until directed out of the area by a pit marshal.”
All members of The Moon now have suspended access denial to Formula 1, F2 and Formula 3 reserved areas this season.
Campos team principal Adrian Campos Jr shared his point of view about what happened with Formula Scout.
“Ralph was struggling financially. Now he’s not, and it’s thanks to these people [from The Moon]. These people have never been in a racing track and they need to be taught how to behave in a racing track during race event. The problem is that we have a limitation on the team staff and we can go very little people to the pitlane. During the race, we are focusing on our race and it’s very difficult for us to take care of them.
“The two times that we have been called from the stewards, it was the first one because he [Carl Runefelt] went to the pit wall and he couldn’t. Of course we told him you cannot be here, go to the place, but they already saw him,” he explained of a similar incident at the 2022 Baku round.
“[In Bahrain] there was one person that was coming with Carl and was also his first ever race. He saw the safety car and wanted to take a picture with it during the race. He got close to the safety car and obviously he cannot do that. That was the problem. That’s why we got the fine. He is paying it.”
“We just hope that the FIA is as strict as they are with them to the rest. Because all eyes are on them in this moment. Anything, any small detail, it’s not massive, things that normally happen in a race with someone, but everyone is following these people a lot.
“They have been posting some things on social media that they’re not allowed because of F1 rights. Everyone in F1 and the FIA are focusing a lot on them, which I think sometimes is not fair because, at the end, the guy just wanted to take a picture with the safety car.
“We cannot be looking at them during the whole race. We need to focus on our race. I think it’s a small, really small issue that became too big.”