{"id":18496,"date":"2025-12-07T19:27:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T13:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=668537"},"modified":"2025-12-07T19:27:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T13:57:05","slug":"abu-dhabi-gp-live-why-was-yuki-tsunoda-penalised-the-fia-decision-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/formula-1\/abu-dhabi-gp-live-why-was-yuki-tsunoda-penalised-the-fia-decision-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Abu Dhabi GP Live: Why was Yuki Tsunoda penalised? The FIA decision explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix title decider delivered its first major controversy when Yuki Tsunoda was handed a 5-second time penalty<\/strong> for his defensive move against Lando Norris. The FIA\u2019s ruling immediately altered race strategies and sparked anger from the RB driver \u2014 but why exactly was he punished?<\/p>\n

The incident: A double defensive move<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While defending from Norris, Tsunoda shifted his car twice<\/strong> under braking \u2014 once to the inside and then again to block the outside line.
This is a direct violation of FIA sporting regulations, which allow only one change of direction<\/strong> to defend a position.<\/p>\n

A second move is considered dangerous because it leaves the attacking driver with no predictable escape route.<\/p>\n

FIA\u2019s assessment<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The stewards reviewed:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \n

    On-board footage<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    GPS positioning<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    Radio messages<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    Relative car placement at the time of braking<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Their conclusion:
    Tsunoda made an illegal double move and impeded a faster car in an unsafe manner.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Hence the 5-second time penalty<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    Tsunoda\u2019s frustration<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Moments after the ruling was relayed, the Japanese driver vented over team radio, frustrated that his firm defence was punished despite maintaining control.<\/p>\n

    Why Norris was NOT penalised earlier<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    A separate incident \u2014 Norris overtaking Tsunoda while running briefly off the track \u2014 was also noted<\/strong> by the FIA.<\/p>\n

    Stewards dismissed it because:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • \n

      Norris did not gain a lasting advantage<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    • \n

      Tsunoda was not forced off<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    • \n

      The position exchange stabilised naturally<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Thus, \u201cno further action\u201d<\/strong> was issued for the McLaren driver.<\/p>\n

      Impact on the championship showdown<\/strong><\/h3>\n

      Tsunoda\u2019s penalty helps Norris maintain race momentum as he targets the podium finish required to secure his maiden world title, while Verstappen continues to hunt down the victory he needs for a last-minute championship steal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix title decider delivered its first major controversy when Yuki Tsunoda was handed a 5-second time\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":39217,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}