Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Formula 1
Marcus Chan
A Formula 1 driver has been handed a double punishment ahead of the British Grand Prix.
After last weekend's dramatic Austrian Grand Prix, the 2025 F1 season continued this week at the world-famous Silverstone circuit.
On Friday, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris were the stars of the show as they finished top of FP1 and FP2 respectively.
Ferrari star Charles Leclerc topped FP3 on Saturday, but the ending of the session was filled with dramatic moments.
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Kick Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto crashed with one minute left to run in FP3, bringing out the red flag, which signalled the end of the session.
As cars returned to the garages, there was a bizarre moment as Haas star Oliver Bearman collided with the barriers on his way into the pits.
Moments after the incident, it was revealed that Bearman was under investigation by the stewards for potentially breaching red flag conditions.
It was then confirmed that the young Brit has been handed a 10-place grid penalty ahead for Sunday's race and also had four points added to his super license.
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Speaking about the incident, Sky Sports F1 pundit Naomi Schiff said: "It’s easily done, but it is a very embarrassing moment."
Martin Brundle added: "That was crazy. You’re going past a red flashing panel and accelerating like crazy to try to pit in.
"The stewards report said he was even faster on that trial pit in than he was on an earlier trial. That’s why they’ve hit him so hard."
A statement from the FIA stewards read: "Car 87 had slowed down for the red flag and as he was approaching Turn 15 accelerated significantly to race pace and entered the pit entry road at 260kph.
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"He lost control of the car in the pit entry road and crashed into the barriers. Art. 37.6 (a) of the Formula One Sporting Regulations and Art. 2.5.4.1(b) of Appendix H of the International Sporting Code require that when a red flag is shown ‘all cars must immediately reduce speed and proceed slowly back to the pit lane’. It is beyond doubt that the driver of Car 87 did not proceed slowly back to the pit lane when he accelerated to simulate entering into the pit entry road under race conditions.
"In fact, we looked at a previous in-lap under normal racing conditions and found that he was faster in this lap, under a red flag. To make matters worse, he lost control of the car and crashed into the barriers while at speed.
"The driver informed us that he misjudged the fact that his brakes were not warm because the lap was done slowly, due to the red flag. While this may have been a factor contributing to the crash, we did not consider it to be a mitigating factor."