FIA has penalized the F1 US GP promoter with a €500,000 fine for a premature and potentially dangerous post-race track invasion from fans at Sunday’s main race’s end. It was an eventful day of on-track action at The Circuit of the Americas that saw Charles Leclerc win his third race of the year and eighth overall of his career.
The Ferrari driver looked in control throughout the race after making an excellent start to move to P1 from P4 and took advantage of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris’ Turn 1 battle. He kept his lead and finished 8.5 seconds ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz to bring a Ferrari 1-2 home.
The fans on the track did not want to miss out on the celebrations from the podium and invaded the track a bit prematurely. The sport’s governing body, which has been strict regarding track invasions in the past, did not take the incident lightly and put a hefty fine that could go to €500,000 on the US Grand Prix promoter, Circuit of The Americas LLC.
As per The Race, in their statement, the race stewards informed the US GP promoter:
“A large group of spectators, estimated at approximately 200 people, in the grandstand alongside pit straight, climbed a small fence and dropped around two meters to the ground between the grandstand and the track debris fencing.
They then went under the debris fencing and climbed over the trackside wall [approximately one meter high] and then merged onto the main straight. All this occurred whilst the competing cars were still on track completing their cooldown lap after the chequered flag.”
Leclerc said it felt “good” to bring home the US GP win.
Charles Leclerc gives his take on winning the US GP
Speaking with F1.com, the 27-year-old Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc said:
“It feels good to bring home a victory at the start of this triple header. The whole team did an amazing job to make this happen and a 1-2 brings us a good amount of points in the fight for the Constructors’ title. It’s an optimistic target, but we will never stop dreaming until it is done.
We’ve made a really good step in terms of our race trim, and hopefully, we will keep it up in the next few races. We will do everything to maximize our results and at the end of the year, we will do the maths and see where we stand.”
After taking maximum points at the US GP, Ferrari has closed the gap to Red Bull in the constructors’ championship and now trails the reigning world champions by six points with five races and two sprints remaining in the 2024 season.
