With the yellow warning flags lit on the monitors after the serious accident of Alex Albon and Lance Stroll at turn 1 on the penultimate lap, race control warned that Carlos Sainz, Sergio Pérez and Kevin Magnussen might not have reduced speed as expected. as specified in the sporting regulations.
Any such infraction could have triggered a possible time penalty, which could have been especially painful for Magnussen , who finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton , less than 10 seconds ahead.
However, after looking closely at the telemetry data from the cars listed above, the stewards made the decision that all three drivers under investigation had complied with the requirement to slow down.
A statement released by the FIA said: “The stewards investigated whether each of the drivers slowed down as they passed the single flying yellow flag on lap 49 and the double yellow flag on lap 50. After reviewing the data, We determined that no further investigation or action was required.”
Sainz and Pérez finished the race in third and fourth place, less than three seconds apart and after a long battle during the race at the Jeddah circuit, so if only one of them had been penalized (Sainz in this case) , the result could have changed a lot.
Magnussen , with his Haas , crossed the finish line in ninth position and scored points for the second consecutive race in this 2022 season, despite the fact that a sore neck affected him during the race, as he is still getting used to the high G-forces of current F1 single-seaters.
