Formula 1: Post-race Imola penalties shake up the standings

Post-race penalties at Imola shook up both the constructor and driver standings following the second race of the 2021 Formula 1 season.

The second race of the 2021 Formula 1 season, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari (Imola), was not without its fair share of controversy.

Unlike the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen gave back the lead to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton after a late track limits violation led to him taking the lead away from Hamilton, the controversy at Imola did not involve the leaders.

However, early on in the season, the two penalties that were handed out after the race had some pretty big effects.

Only six of the drivers who finished the race in the top 13 kept their actual finishing positions.

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Fortunately, for the sake of most fans, those six drivers were the top six drivers, led by Verstappen and Hamilton. McLaren’s Lando Norris, Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr., and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top six.

However, beyond that, things were shaken up after the checkered flag was flown, and that led to shakeups in both the constructor standings and the driver standings.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was initially scored in seventh place and awarded six points. But because of a track limits violation on his pass of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, he was demoted to eighth place with a five-second time penalty, while Gasly was promoted to seventh.

Meanwhile, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen was initially scored in ninth place and awarded two points, the team’s first two points of the season. But because he failed to pass through the pit lane after failing to retake his position following a spin before the restart after the red flag, he was issued a 30-second time penalty and dropped to 13th.

So 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th place finishers Esteban Ocon of Alpine, Fernando Alonso of Alpine, Sergio Perez of Red Bull and rookie Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri were promoted to ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively.

As for the effects on the standings, several teams and drivers were shifted around after the race.

Aston Martin sat in fifth place in the constructor standings with eight points while AlphaTauri sat in sixth with five. But because Gasly was promoted to seventh and Stroll was dropped to eighth, AlphaTauri gained two points while Aston Martin lost two. As a result, AlphaTauri now sit in fifth with seven while Aston Martin sit in sixth with six.

Alfa Romeo sat in seventh place in the constructor standings with two points while Alpine sat in eighth with one. But because Raikkonen was dropped from ninth to 13th place and both Alpine drivers gained one point because of it, that has also changed.

With Ocon moving from 10th to ninth place and thus scoring two points instead of one and with Alonso moving from 11th to 10th and thus scoring one point instead of none, Alpine now sit in seventh in the standings with three points while a scoreless Alfa Romeo sit in a last place tie with Williams and Haas.

As for the driver standings, Stroll sat in ninth place with seven points ahead of Gasly in 10th with four. But Stroll’s penalty and Gasly’s promotion led Stroll to give two of his points Gasly, which swapped the two around in the standings. Gasly now sits in ninth with six points while Stroll sits in 10th with five.

Raikkonen sat in an 11th place tie with Tsunoda with two points while Ocon sat in 13th with one and a scoreless Alonso sat in a last place tie with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, Williams teammates George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, and Haas rookie teammates Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Now Ocon has been promoted to an 11th place tie with Tsunoda thanks to the one point he gained while Alonso has moved up to 13th with his first point of 2021. But Raikkonen is now one of the season’s seven scoreless drivers through two events.

The next race on the 2021 Formula 1 calendar is the Portuguese Grand Prix, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 2. ESPN is set to broadcast this race live from Algarve International Circuit (Portimao) beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET.