Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Niko Lacorte has been handed a race ban in the FIA Formula 3 Championship after accumulating too many penalty points on his race license.
The 17-year-old Italian went into this morning’s feature race at Barcelona with 11 penalty points, one short of the maximum a driver can carry on their license over a 12-month period before they get a ban, and finished it with two more penalties – and the associated penalty points – to his name.
He got a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Prema’s Brando Badoer, then a 10s stop-go penalty that was converted into a 30s post-race penalty for not meeting the delta requirements during a safety car period.
Combined, he picked up three penalty points from those two offences and the application of the race ban means his DAMS team will need to find a replacement driver for the next round at the Red Bull Ring in four weeks’ time.
Lacorte was not running at the finish of the Barcelona feature race, but was classified 26th as he stopped on the final lap. The Alpine Formula 1 junior is currently 28th in the championship standings halfway into his rookie season, having scored no points.
While race bans are uncommon in FIA F3, there have been multiple instances over the last few seasons of drivers in Formula 2 – which has more races in its calendar – accumulating enough penalty points to then be banned.
Rodin Motorsport’s Roman Bilinski was also penalised post-race, for causing a collision with AIX Racing’s Jose Garfias. That crash led to Bilinski retiring on lap three, so his 10s penalty was converted into a five-place grid drop for the next race.