Why António Félix da Costa wasn't penalized after his maneuver on the Aston Martin

The race had just restarted after a long neutralization period following the collision between the Classic Ferrari for sale Car number 50 and BMW number 31, it only took about thirty seconds before the Safety Car reappeared.Aston Martin No. 009, which was attempting to overtake theAlpine No. 35 in the Kemmel straight, for the gain of fifth position, ended his race in the barriers shortly before Les Combes.

Alex Riberas, then driving the No. 009 Aston Martin Valkyrie, was attempting to overtake on the right.Alpine Number 35, driven by António Félix da Costa, saw his car move over at the same time to defend its position. The Heart of Racing driver then abruptly lost control of his Aston Martin at over 300 km/h before crashing into the safety barrier. Fortunately, the particularly dramatic accident resulted only in material damage and forced the Aston Martin to retire from the race.

An incident deemed to have "no primary responsibility"

After having " watched the television broadcast, the images from the circuit's surveillance cameras, and the recordings from the onboard cameras of both cars. The stewards deemed that Alex Riberas' Aston Martin No. 009 was not sufficiently competitive.Alpine No. 35 of António Félix da Costa so that the defense of the latter is considered faulty, justifying that " the driver of car 35 had moved at the very last moment (authorized limit - Editor's note)”.

The stewards also noted the particularly complex nature of the incident, as the decisions of both drivers were made during a battle at speeds exceeding 300 km/h. Therefore, the officials decided not to penalize either competitor: The stewards determined that neither pilot was wholly or primarily responsible for the incident and therefore took no further action. " explains the FIA ​​commission's report.

A spectacular crash reminiscent of the extremely violent collision that occurred in 2024 on this same circuit. Earl Bamber's Cadillac was launched into the air after hitting Sean Gelael's BMW LMGT3, already on the Kemmel Straight. Deemed responsible, the Cadillac driver was given a five-place grid penalty. 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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