FIA stewards’ consistency questioned after 10-second penalty was handed out
Photo: Race Pictures
Kada Sárközi joined GPblog as an editor ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 season. He graduated with a BA in Sports Journalism in the UK and has covered Grands Prix and other F1 events live.
Oliver Bearman has called the 10-second penalty he received at the United States Grand Prix "crazy" and "very excessive". He also argued that worse incidents this season have earned five seconds or no penalty at all.
Bearman and Gasly made contact in Turn 11, and the Briton was found by the stewards to be at fault for the incident. After serving his penalty so it wouldn't be carried over to the next weekend, Bearman had to retire from the race, while Gasly went on to finish 10th and claim a point.
Bearman: 'If anything, it was a racing incident'
The Haas driver made it clear that he was comparing his punishment with other decisions handed out this year.
"I was pretty shocked, to be honest. If anything, it was a racing incident. I felt a bit hard done by for it to be a 10-second penalty as well, especially given some of the incidents that have happened this year that have gone either unpenalized or were a five-second penalty."
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Photo: Race Pictures
Bearman also said Gasly had left him only part of a car's width: "It was a bit of space but only half a car and by the time I was committed, I wasn't disappearing." He also said the damage left him "losing a second a lap due to downforce".
Why the stewards held Bearman wholly to blame
The stewards' verdict on the incident wrote: "Car 87 (Oliver Bearman) moved to overtake Car 10 at turn 11. The front axle of Car 87 was not ahead of the mirror of Car 10 at the apex where a collision occurred between the two cars.
"The Stewards determined that the driver of Car 87 was wholly to blame for the collision and imposed a 10-second penalty accordingly."
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Stewards explain lenient penalty for Russell
In a different incident at Circuit of the Americas, the stewards explained why George Russell's penalty was less than the usual after he left the track and gained a lasting advantage.
"The normal penalty for this is a 10-second penalty, however the stewards considered that the driver of car 63 had previously been pressuring car six [Hadjar] and that put car 81 into an attacking position (and therefore car 63 into a defending position)."
The stewards added that it "was a first lap incident" and reduced the sanction to five seconds. Russell still called his penalty "ridiculous".
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