F2 Driver Sean Gelael Penalised for Hitting 2 Marshalls

We are barely into the second day of the Azerbaijan GP weekend and there have already been a number of incidents. The latest one involved Indonesian racer Sean Gelael during  Friday practice. As it turns out, the 22-year old has been slapped with a back of the grid start for Saturday’s Formula Two feature race.

This was because he knocked over two marshals to the ground in a strange qualifying incident. The Prema power team driver ground to a halt on track early in the session and the marshals immediately jumped in to assist the stricken car.

Then, all of a sudden, Sean Gelael jump-started his car unexpectedly and got going again. But in the process, the marshals positioned in front of the rear wheels got the surprise of their lives.

https://twitter.com/Insidef1/status/1121743366671069184

Fortunately, the marshals escaped unscathed but the FIA were not too happy with the events. So, they imposed a strict penalty where Sean Gelael was excluded from the rest of the session.

The stewards later used their discretion to permit Sean Gelael, Mick Schumacher’s teammate, to start from the back of the grid.

Gelael’s incident was not the only one to transpire as several odd incidents took place. The first one was when the first practice session in Formula One was abandoned. It occurred when Williams driver George Russell struck a loose manhole cover, and wrecked the floor of his car.

The drama did not end there, with the mobile crane truck carrying his car back to the pits. The truck smacked the underside of a sponsor hoarding and the broken crane later spilled fluid over the Williams. This would have undoubtedly given Claire Williams more headaches and burned a bigger hole in her purse.

Then, Pierre Gasly was hauled up for failing to get his car weighed in after the session. So, the Frenchman will be forced to start from the pit lane for Sunday’s race.