Kimi Raikkonen luckily escapes penalty for cutting the track

Kimi Raikkonen has luckily avoided a grid penalty after leaving the track several times throughout qualifying, on his way to ending the session 4th for Lotus. This decision came after the race stewards deemed that the Finn didn’t gain any advantage, and therefore no action was taken against the Spa specialist.

After the intense qualifying session came to a thrilling conclusion, Kimi Raikkonen was called up in front of the race stewards with a possible grid penalty looming over the Lotus driver. The Finn reportedly left the track at turns 3 and 4, as well as another time throughout the final top ten shootout. However, upon examining the telemetry and sector times, the race stewards decided against taking any action on Kimi Raikkonen.

“Although Car 9 [Raikkonen] left the track at turns 3 and 4 [not only on this lap but also on another lap in Q3] a detailed examination of telemetry and sector times clearly indicate there was no advantage gained because the exit speed was shown to be slower than on other laps where the car did not leave the track.” Read an official statement from the race stewards on the matter, which consist of former IndyCar and Formula 1 driver Eliseo Salazar.

This has enabled Kimi Raikkonen reap the rewards of Pastor Maldonado’s grid penalty, after it was deemed that the Williams driver had blocked the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg. This therefore means the Finn will line-up 3rd for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix, as he strives to take his fifth victory around the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

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