Jake Dennis disputes disqualification in Tokyo: Pit lane "was open - my team did everything perfectly"

Jake Dennis was disqualified with a black flag in Saturday's Formula E race in Tokyo because, according to the stewards, he came in for his Pit Boost when the pit lane was closed. However, the British Andretti driver vehemently contradicted this view: the pit lane entry was completely in accordance with the rules, according to him. e-Formula.news took a closer look at the sporting regulations.

After Stoffel Vandoorne initiated his big coup at the Tokyo E-Prix with a very early Pit Boost, Dennis also sensed his chance: After the race was interrupted due to Max Günther's technical failure, he did not return to the grid like everyone else, but drove straight back into the pit lane to complete his Pit Boost straight away and thus save a lot of time.

Shortly afterwards, race control announced an investigation against the Andretti driver for driving into the pit lane when it was closed. A short time later, he was shown the black flag - Dennis was disqualified and out of the race!

When asked if he had not known that the pit lane was closed, he replied on Formula E's TV world feed, visibly annoyed: "It was open. From the information we had, it was open. It was closed at the pit lane exit, so I waited there. But the entrance was wide open. So my team did everything perfectly."

In fact, his onboard footage of Dennis shows no visible red light at the entrance to the pit lane. "The regulations do not say that you are not allowed to drive in to complete the pit stop when the pit lane is open," says Dennis. Nevertheless, the factual decision of the stewards was that Dennis had breached Article 23.16 of the Sporting Regulations.

Were there "exceptional circumstances"?

According to paragraph 23.16 of the Sporting Regulations: "Under exceptional circumstances, the Race Director may ask for the pit entry to be closed during the race for safety reasons. At such times, Drivers may only enter the pit lane in order for essential and entirely evident repairs to be carried out on the car. A penalty under Article 16.3 will be imposed on any driver who, in the opinion of the Stewards, entered the pit lane for any other reason whilst it was closed."

There is no question that there was another reason, namely the Pit Boost. However, it is currently difficult to understand whether and in what form race control communicated those "exceptional circumstances" to the teams. But paragraph 41.7 clarifies the procedure for a standing restart: "If the Race Director decides it is safe to call in the Safety Car, a message 'STANDING START' will be sent to all Competitors via the official messaging system."

"All FIA light panels will display 'SS', the yellow flags and SC boards will be withdrawn, and the car's lights will be extinguished. This will be the signal to the Competitors and drivers that it will be entering the pit lane at the end of that lap. (...) Once the Safety Car has entered the pit lane, all cars must return to the grid, take up their grid positions and follow the procedures set out in Articles 36.13 to 36.15."

Thus, Dennis and Andretti would have violated article 41.7, but not necessarily article 23.16, which is cited in the stewards' decision. The issue remains opaque. According to the official FIA document, Andretti has the option of appealing against the judgement.

If there is any further information on the Dennis case, we will update this article.