Ignoring yellow flags causes Ericsson grid penalty

Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson has been slapped with a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix for failing to slow down under yellow flag conditions.

Ericsson was already at the back of the grid, in what was a dismal qualifying for Sauber, with Charles Leclerc alongside Ericsson on the grid in 19th.

It was Leclerc’s spin that brought out the yellow flags, but the Swede finished his flying lap anyway.

An FIA statement read: “The stewards heard from Marcus Ericsson, the driver of car number 9 and the team representative and reviewed the video evidence which clearly showed that the driver attempted to set a meaningful lap time after passing through a double waved yellow marshalling sector, contrary to the requirements set out in the race director’s event notes (10.1) in breach of article 12.1.1 i."

Ericsson has also been given three penalty points, taking his total to five in the last 12 months.

Ericsson scored his first points in two and a half years last time out in Bahrain, but a repeat performance is looking unlikely, starting from the back of the grid, and with what appears to be the slowest car on the Chinese GP grid.