Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll face reprimands during F1 Bahrain GP practice

The F1 Bahrain GP weekend has not started on a positive note for both Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda. The two drivers have been given reprimands for separate incidents during the Free Practice sessions.

Tsunoda was reprimanded for an incident in FP2 where he was found guilty of holding up Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver narrowly avoided a collision with him while navigating through Turns 7 and 8.

For this particular incident, the stewards' report said:

“Car 22 [Tsunoda] impeded car 16 [Leclerc] who was on a fast lap with new tyres at turn eight, causing car 16 to abandon his lap. Driver 22 says he was pushing on an out lap for a long, high-fuel run. However, the stewards consider that a driver on an out lap must always be aware of faster cars approaching and although this did not create a dangerous situation they determine that this is a breach of the regulation and they impose a reprimand in this case.”

Tsunoda was also involved in an incident with Lance Stroll as well. For this particular incident, however, it was the Aston Martin driver who received the reprimand. According to the stewards report for this incident:

“Driver 18 [Stroll] says he was travelling slowly in preparation for a practice start and was looking in his mirrors but the closing speed from cars behind travelling much more quickly meant he did not see car 22 when approaching turn eight. The stewards acknowledge this, and note that the team did not give the driver any radio warning of approaching cars, but consider that the driver has responsibility for maintaining awareness of cars around them and that this applies equally on the lap after the chequered flag.”

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Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll part of a packed F1 midfield

Early impressions after FP1 and FP2 do point to signs of a packed midfield. There's hardly anything to choose between the teams and there is a high probability that Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll could be fighting for the same piece of track on Sunday.

For now, it does appear that from McLaren to Alfa Romeo, almost every F1 car is putting together laptimes in the vicinity of each other. The midfield might be the most intriguing this season as drivers might just be the differentiating factor this F1 season.