Stewards clear Albon-Bearman collision, no penalty issued

Shwartzman hit with 5-place grid penalty after yellow flag overtake

Stewards penalise Shwartzman five grid spots; Albon-Bearman incident ruled as racing with no further action taken.

Robert Shwartzman has received a five-place grid penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.

The 25-year-old driver took part in Free Practice 1 over the Mexican Grand Prix weekend as part of Sauber’s mandatory rookie testing programme.

Stewards have ruled that Shwartzman will drop five grid positions at the next race he competes in.

Shwartzman is unlikely to secure an F1 seat in the near term as he does not appear to be a contender for a Sauber drive. The only other unconfirmed seat is with Red Bull’s RB F1 team, which they are expected to fill internally.

“Following the incident at Turn 9, Shwartzman overtook a single waved yellow flag and then a double yellow before passing Tsunoda in the area at high speed. The penalty issued is the standard one for overtaking under double yellow flags. While stewards acknowledge that Shwartzman is not scheduled to start the race, they have applied the usual penalty.”

No action after the collision between Albon and Bearman

Additionally, Alex Albon will face no penalty following his collision with Oliver Bearman during the first practice session. The stewards summoned both drivers for a meeting after the session, with no penalty issued to the Williams driver.

“Bearman was slowing down, with his team advising him of cars approaching from behind. Albon was on a flying lap. Just after Turn 9, Bearman, who was in energy-saving mode and moving relatively slowly, shifted to the right. As Albon approached Turn 9, Bearman was ahead, prompting Albon to lift. Due to the car’s high load in the turn, this caused oversteer.”

“Both drivers agreed that Bearman’s positioning wasn’t unreasonable but was unfortunate as it came close to Albon’s line. Had Bearman been slightly further on the track, no incident would have occurred. All parties agreed it was a racing incident.”