Why two F1 drivers escaped ‘very significant penalty’ for pit lane breach
Ollie Bearman and Gabriel Bortoleto avoided penalties despite exiting the pit lane under a red light.
Formula 1 drivers Ollie Bearman and Gabriel Bortoleto avoided punishment despite falling foul of a pit lane infringement during the Dutch Grand Prix.
Both drivers left the pit lane to join the track for the restart of the race following the suspension caused by Max Verstappen’s monster first-lap shunt after the pit exit light had turned red.
This usually would result in a “very significant penalty” being applied as drivers are required to “obey light signals at all times”, but neither Bearman or Bortoleto were penalised because the race was not ‘live’.
There has been no official confirmation as to why the pit exit light suddenly changed. It has been suggested that this was down to an error.
Either way, Bearman and Bortoleto were each handed their first driving reprimands of the season for the rules breach after the stewards deemed that no advantage had been gained, nor any “potentially dangerous or unsafe situation was created”.
“The pit exit light turned red when the driver was approaching the pit exit to join the track for the re-start of the race after a suspension,” the stewards explained.
“Such an infringement happening during the race normally requires a very significant penalty as the drivers are obliged to obey light signals at all times. However, in this case the infringement did not happen during a live race, but rather on the build-up before the re-start, although the race had technically already resumed in accordance with Article B5.15.2g.
“In addition to that, the Stewards acknowledge that neither any advantage was gained nor any potentially dangerous or unsafe situation was created. Therefore a reprimand to the driver is deemed appropriate given the mitigating circumstances and the unique scenario.”
Bortoleto finished 13th after miraculously avoiding hitting anything during a first-lap spin behind Verstappen. His Audi team-mate Nico Hulkenberg scored points in eighth.
Meanwhile, Bearman failed to take the restart after his Haas broke down on the formation lap to the grid. Team-mate Esteban Ocon also retired from the last F1 race to be held at Zandvoort.
The 72-lap race was won by reigning world champion Lando Norris, who made it back-to-back wins for McLaren either side of F1's summer break.
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