Overview
- Tsunoda triggered an extra formation lap at the Italian Grand Prix after lining up awkwardly in his grid slot, prompting race director Rui Marques to order another formation lap on Sunday.
- FIA stewards reviewed the incident after the race and chose not to apply the usual stop‑and‑go penalty, saying Racing Bulls had argued Tsunoda was correctly in his grid slot and that the director acted out of caution.
- Audi lodged an intention to appeal within the 96‑hour window and formally submitted its appeal to the FIA, which has accepted it for processing but has not yet set a hearing date.
- Under Article B5.9.4 a driver who causes an extra formation lap must start from the pit lane and failing to do so normally draws a stop‑and‑go that converts to a 30‑second post‑race penalty, a sanction that would drop Tsunoda out of 10th and promote Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto into the points.
- Beyond the immediate points swing for Bortoleto and Audi, the case will test how strictly the rule is read and how race control communicates with teams about who is being treated as the cause of an aborted start.