Gabriel Bortoleto has been hit with a five-place grid penalty for the Qatar Grand Prix following what F1 stewards decided was an “extreme” mistake in Las Vegas.
From 18th on the grid, Bortoleto tried to make places up by hugging the inside line at the start, but badly misjudged his braking and rammed directly into the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.
Stroll’s rear wing was destroyed as he retired immediately, whilst Bortoleto continued on before retiring himself.
Investigating the collision, the stewards handed the reigning F2 champion a 10-second time penalty, but as he had retired, this was converted into a five-place grid drop for Qatar.
It will be served during the grand prix itself and not during the Sprint.
For his troubles, Bortoleto was also issued with two penalty points, taking him to two for the 12-month period.
Elsewhere, Alex Albon was also handed one penalty point (five for the period) for colliding with Lewis Hamilton.
Check out the stewards’ full verdict in the Bortoleto investigation below!
Stewards verdict on Bortoleto
The driver of Car 5 braked extremely late and, as a result, collided with Car 18.
Even though this was a Lap 1 Turn 1 incident, mitigating circumstances do not exist, and hence the standard 10-second penalty would have applied; however, as Car 5 retired, the penalty is converted into a grid penalty for the next Race in which the driver participates, in accordance with our guidelines.
