Yves Bacquelaine

**Yves Bacquelaine** is a Belgian senior motorsport official who has acted as a steward at FIA Formula 1 and WEC events and also is chairman of the steward in the TCR International series, having been active in the series since it began in 2015. Perhaps his most controversial action of his career was denying Lewis Hamilton victory at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix by penalising him 25 seconds and nearly preventing him from winning the World Championship.

## Career

### 2015 TCR International Series

In 2015, he held the role of chairman of the stewards. He served in this position in Shanghai, Algarve, Monza, Red Bull Ring, Singapore, Buriram whilst Radovan Novak served in this position in Valencia, Daniel Fausel in Salzburgring, Sochi, and Tony Scott-Andrews in Macau.

### 2016 TCR International Series

In 2016, he again held the role of chairman of the stewards.

He assumed the position in the races at Bahrain, Estoril, Imola, Salzburgring, Oschersleben and Singapore whilst Jonathan Ashman served in this capacity in Spa, Daniel Fausel in Buriram, Sepang and Jeff Amin in Macau.

### 2017 TCR International Series

In 2017, he again held the role of chairman of the stewards for the TCR International series along with Swiss Daniel Fausel and Briton Jonathan Ashman (TCR founder). Even then, he was dishing out more damnable penalties.

In Rustavi, Bahrain, Monza, Oschersleben, Zhejiang and Dubai, Bacquelaine assumed the role of chairman of the stewards, whilst Fausel acted in this position in Spa, Salzburg and Buriram and Ashman in Hungaroring.

#### Rustavi

For the first race of the season at Rustavi, Bacqualaine was elected chairman, whilst serving alongside him was Bahraini Abdul Aziz Al Thawadi and ASN appointee Bakar Jikia, and they punished Hugo Valente and Roberto Colciago by giving them 30 seconds time penalties for overtaking under yellow flags.

#### Bahrain

His first damnable action came in Bahrain when he, along with Fausel and ASN appointee Eyad Ebrahim, sent pole-sitter Maťo Homola to the rear of the grid after an engine change after FP1. They were more forgiving towards Giacomo Altoè though, after they had deleted Altoè's best lap time in qualifying, eventually reversing this decision and reinstating the Italian driver's lap time.

#### Monza

At Monza, Bacquelaine assumed the position of chief steward once again, alongside Fausel, and with Giancarlo Merchiori the ASN appointee. After no penalties in qualifying, they gave Ferenc Ficza a 10 second time penalty after race 1 for cutting the Turn 1 chicane and gaining an unfair advantage. Then, for race 2, they demoted Jaap van Lagen to the back of the grid for Race 2, after an engine change after Race 1. However, due to the lateness of the penalty, his original grid position of 11th was left empty.

#### Oschersleben

At this race, for the third time in this year's campaign, Bacquelaine assumed the position of chief steward. This time the international steward who served alongside him was Abdul Aziz Al Thawadi, as he had done in Rustavi, and the ASN appointee was Wolfram Lehmann. On this occasion, the first and only driver to be punished was Frédéric Vervisch who was sent to the back of the grid for Race 1, after an engine change, causing him to drop 7 positions from where he originally qualified.

#### Zhejiang

The fourth race in which Bacquelaine was the chairman was Zhejiang, working alongside Rod Parkin of Great Britain and ASN appointee Jiong Chang, and they stripped Tengyi Jiang of his times in Q1, after the team broke the parc fermé rules. Then they penalized Zhendong Zhang 10 seconds for causing a collision with Maťo Homola in Race 1, and sent Denis Dupont to the back of the grid for Race 2 after his car was taken out of parc fermé after Race 1.

#### Dubai

Bacquelaine returned as chairman for the season finale at Dubai, with Jonathan Ashman assuming the international steward position, whilst Emirati Phiroze Jhaveri joined the panel as ASN Appointee. The panel was responsible for sending Gabriele Tarquini to the back of the grid for Race 1, after an engine change. Then, they dished out a 30 second penalty to Maťo Homola after race 1 when the Slovakian caused a collision and rejoined the track unsafely during the race thus dropping him from 8th to 12th. Then Alain Menu and Aurélien Comte were sent to the back of the grid for Race 2 by Bacquelaine, Ashman and Jhaveri, after having broken the parc fermé regulations following Race 1