Robert Shwartzman was penalized five places for overtaking under a yellow flag!
The 25-year-old took part in Free Practice Session 1 during the Mexican Grand Prix weekend as part of Sauber's mandatory rookie testing.
The stewards decided that Shwartzman would lose five places on the starting grid in the next race in which the driver participates.
Shwartzman is unlikely to get a Formula 1 drive in the short term as he does not appear to be an option for Sauber. The only other unconfirmed wheel is at RB F1, which Red Bull will keep in-house.
“After the incident at Turn 9, Shwartzman passed a single waved yellow flag and then a double yellow flag before overtaking Tsunoda in the zone while traveling at high speed. The penalty is the usual penalty for overtaking under a double yellow flag, and although the stewards recognize that the driver is not scheduled to start the race, they applied the consistent penalty for this.”
No action after Albon-Bearman collision
Then, Alex Albon will not be sanctioned after his collision with Oliver Bearman during the first free practice session. The stewards summoned the two drivers for a meeting after the session. No penalty was imposed on the Williams driver.
“Bearman was slowing down and the team was informing him of the cars following him. Albon was on a fast lap. Just after turn 9, Bearman, who was recharging and therefore going relatively slowly, pulled to the right. When Albon came into turn 9, he had Bearman in front of him and he lifted his foot as the car was under a lot of load in the corner, it caused him to oversteer.
“Both drivers agreed that Bearman's positioning was not unreasonable but was unfortunate as he was close to Albon's line. If Bearman had been slightly further back on the track it would not have resulted in an incident “All parties agreed that this was a racing incident.”
