Gabriel Bortoleto received a time penalty following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku – the Audi driver had previously knowingly ignored yellow flags
Gabriel Bortoleto incurred a curious penalty during the Formula 1 race in Baku. The Audi driver received a ten-second penalty after the race for overtaking another car whilst yellow flags were out. Whilst this happens time and again in motorsport, in this instance the Brazilian deliberately disregarded the flags.
But how did this come about and, above all, what was Bortoleto’s motivation? In their ruling on the penalty, the FIA race stewards explained: “The incident took place between Turns 6 and 7 on the first lap following the restart of the race.”
“At that point, the marshals in that area were displaying physical SC boards and waving yellow flags. However, the race commissioners noted that, at that point, the safety car had in fact not yet been deployed by race control.”
Specifically, this refers to the phase following the first safety car restart on Saturday, during which a major crash caused by Franco Colapinto occurred at Turn 1. Indeed, Bortoleto’s on-board footage shows that, following this, safety car signs were displayed by some marshals.
“Is it a safety car or not?”, Bortoleto then asks over the radio. His race engineer’s reply: “No safety car, there’s no safety car.” At that moment, Bortoleto overtook Sergio Perez’s Cadillac. Just a few seconds later, race control did indeed deploy another safety car.
The race stewards explained: “Bortoleto stated that he had initially reacted to the SC signs and the yellow flags. However, he had not seen the corresponding electronic display and had not received a safety car notification on his steering wheel.”
“Furthermore, he had been informed by his team that the safety car had not been deployed. Bortoleto was therefore unsure of the actual status of the race and, consequently, overtook Perez so as not to lose his position unnecessarily.‘
’The Race Commissioners acknowledge that the conflicting information contributed significantly to the situation. As the safety car had not been deployed, it cannot, in particular, be assumed that Bortoleto overtook another car under safety car conditions.”
Why Bortoleto was penalised nonetheless
Now, however, comes the crucial part of the ruling: “This does not, however, clarify the separate issue of the yellow flags that were displayed.” For although the safety car display was incorrect, yellow flags were nevertheless shown. And, as is well known, overtaking is not permitted under yellow flags.
” Bortoleto confirmed that he had seen the yellow flags, but explained that, as they were displayed alongside the SC signs, he had assumed they were part of the same safety car indication and had therefore considered them no longer relevant once he had been informed that the safety car had not been deployed”, according to the stewards.
“The race stewards do not accept this interpretation,” the ruling states, however, because: “A waved yellow flag is an instruction in its own right and must be heeded regardless of any accompanying signals.”
“Accordingly, Bortoleto – notwithstanding the understandable confusion regarding the SC displays – had seen the waved yellow flags and nevertheless overtook Perez whilst the yellow flag was still in force. The Race Commissioners therefore find that Bortoleto overtook another car under yellow flags.”
“ The Race Commissioners acknowledge that the erroneous SC displays and the conflicting information contributed to the circumstances of the incident. However, these circumstances do not negate the obligation to observe a waved yellow flag, and the Race Commissioners therefore impose the standard penalty for overtaking under a single yellow flag.”
Consequently, Bortoleto was retrospectively handed a ten-second penalty, which dropped him from P13 to P15 in the final results. The penalty did not make much of a difference, however, as the Audi driver would not have scored any points on Saturday in any case.