Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Formula 1, FIA, Fan Reactions
Ryan Smart
Formula 1 fans have been left stunned after the FIA handed out a 10-place grid penalty after an incident during Monaco Grand Prix practice.
The first two practice sessions of the weekend took place on Friday at the Monte Carlo street circuit, where overtaking is notoriously close to impossible.
As a result, the Saturday qualifying session often defines the race result on Sunday - though FIA chiefs have sought to attempt to change that by introducing a mandatory two-stop race.
Regardless, qualifying will still be vitally important around the Monaco streets - but one driver is already at a significant disadvantage.
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Haas driver Oliver Bearman was handed a 10-place grid penalty late on Friday by the FIA, for overtaking under red flag conditions.
Heading into the Racasse corner, Bearman passed the slow-moving Williams car of Carlos Sainz on his way back to the pit lane.
But after watching footage of the incident, fans were left less than happy at the sanction, given how slowly Sainz was driving just after the exit of the previous chicane - and that the colour of the light panel to indicate the red flag wasn't perfectly clear.
One fan wrote: "If he didn't go overtake he had two choices - go into the Williams or go into the wall."
A second added: "That whole pen is ridiculous."
A third fumed: "This is crazy. He clearly starts slowing down safely as soon as he sees the flag panel flashing."
But another fan felt the penalty was the correct call: "As he's entering T15 a yellow is clearly visible, he continues to accelerate out of 15 at a race pace. He enters T16 ignoring the flag. He continues the straight accelerating in spite of flags and panels, and almost 10 seconds later he finally yields at T17."
And another argued: "Going wayyyy too fast on a red flag."
The penalty is an even bigger blow for Bearman given his qualifying performances this year - though they often have not been totally the fault of the British driver.
At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Bearman set a lap time that would have been enough to get him out of Q1, but it was deleted after it was found that a red flag had been waved seconds before he crossed the line.
Haas, however, believed they had evidence from the TV pictures and live timing data that the lap should have stood.
But the FIA stated that Bearman crossed the line just 3.3 seconds after the red flag signal appeared on the start gantry.
In Miami, meanwhile, he was denied an opportunity to set a final lap time in Q1 after his Haas team sent him out too late, therefore eliminating him from the session.
Bearman's race performances have been impressive, though, and he has collected six points so far this season.
He qualified in P20 in Bahrain but bounced back to collect the final point on race day, while he made up nine positions to finish eighth on an alternate strategy in China.
It will be significantly tougher, however, to repeat that feat on the streets of Monte Carlo.