As well as the time penalty, Bottas picked up two penalty points on his FIA super license, meaning his total tally has been raised to four for the 12-month period. If a driver exceeds 12 points in 12 months, he will receive a race ban.
Bottas handed time penalty, keeps fourth place
- Published on 26 Aug 2018 18:31
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Valtteri Bottas has been given a 5-second time penalty following his collision with Sergey Sirotkin on the opening lap of the Belgian Grand Prix. As the cars headed into Turn 1, Bottas, who was starting towards the back, locked up and ran into the rear of the Williams.
Mercedes pulled Bottas into the pits for a new front wing at the end of the first lap after a safety car was deployed following a major shunt between Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc. The Finn climbed back through the field and went on to salvage fourth place.
A statement from the Stewards read: "The driver of car 77 [Bottas] admitted the collision was his fault, that he had completely misjudged the situation and that the braking of car 35 [Sirotkin] caught him by surprise and that he should have left more margin."
Towards the end of the race, Bottas was involved in a duel with Sergio Perez for the fourth place spot. With 5 laps to go, Bottas got past the Mexican and extended the gap to 7.3 seconds, meaning that he will hold onto his finishing position.
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Replies (6)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
So its a non-penalty.
NEXT SPARE VAMP
Posts: 1,874
Indeed. The result was less damaging, but otherwise it was exactly the same what Hülkenberg did and het received a 10 place grid penalty!
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
At the very least he should've dropped down one place this race.
f1ski
Posts: 726
Agree with both . Had wheels not overlapped and touched in the Hulkenberg incident things wouldn't have been so dramatic.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
Its all double standards in F1. Mercedes and Ferrari drivers tend not to be punished the same way other drivers do. Five seconds penalty seems weak and non intrusive towards Bottas. He should be getting an stop an go at least or grid penalty. Another example of the stewards applying their flexible non equal measurements of events to F1. It's a blatant favouritism towards Mercedes again.
Bhurt
Posts: 320
The non-penalty isn't exactly surprising.
What is strange to me is that they didn't look at that situation during the race. It took one replay to see that Bottas was at fault. But I guess they needed to see the final result before they could be sure their penalty would be a non-penalty...