FIA Quietly Moves a Bollard at Sepang — After Catching Half the Grid Out
While drivers spent Friday griping about Sepang’s sandpaper surface, the real headache turned out to be a plain pit-lane bollard. The FIA quietly repositioned the pit-entry marker at Turn 15 — the final corner before the pit straight — overnight, after it caused more chaos than it solved during Friday’s practice sessions. In its original spot, any driver who ran wide at Turn 15 and passed to the right of the bollard was automatically required to complete a full lap of the pit lane.
The result across FP1 and FP2: black-and-white flags for Liam Lawson and Valtteri Bottas in the morning, then for Kimi Antonelli in the afternoon — while George Russell dutifully obeyed the letter of the rule and lost time for his trouble. The FIA evidently realised it was punishing drivers for the circuit’s own layout rather than any real offence, and moved the bollard further back so cars running slightly wide can now stay on track without triggering a pit-lane detour.
A small technical footnote, but one that could have cost grid penalties right before qualifying — and a fair indicator of how hastily this return-after-nine-years circuit was put together.
Source: RacingNews365 (https://racingnews365.com/fia-carry-out-significant-sepang-track-change-after-driver-concerns)
