Alfa Romeo fined over fuel temperature on Giovinazzi's car

Alfa Romeo has been fined €5000 after it was deemed to have used too cold fuel during the second free practice session in Austria. 

Regulations state that the fuel must not be greater than 10 degrees lower than the ambient temperature issued by the FIA 60 minutes prior to the start of a practice session, or two hours for a race. 

A stewards statement read: “Per Article 6.5.2 of the 2019 Formula One Technical Regulations, no fuel intended for immediate use in a car may be more than ten degrees centigrade below the ambient temperature.

"In this case the ambient temperature was published to be 30 degrees centigrade and the temperature of the fuel was 17 degrees or below.

“The team representatives acknowledged that the temperature was below that required under the Technical Regulations. Given that this infringement occurred during second practice, we impose the fine set out above.”

Teams are restricted from using too low fuel temperatures as they can gain an advantage by doing so as it stores more energy due to the lower density. 

Giovinazzi insisted that he was pleased with his day after ending the second session in 14th.

“I was quite happy with the balance of the car, even though it was difficult to put everything together this afternoon," he said."

"The two red flags came when we put the soft tyres on and I feel we couldn’t use them to their fullest. However, tomorrow is when it matters.

"We have to focus on improving ahead of qualifying and do the best possible job in the rest of the weekend, but I hope we can reach Q3 again.”