Oliver Bearman penalty includes a severe 10-place grid drop for F1 British Grand Prix after the Haas driver suffered a horror pit entry crash in red flag conditions – Video.
The sanction, compounded by four penalty points added to the British rookie’s FIA Super Licence, overshadowed his otherwise promising performance in qualifying.
The incident unfolded in the closing minutes of FP3, a session already marked by Bearman’s earlier misfortune when a piece of bodywork detached from his VF-25 chassis, triggering a red flag.
As the session resumed and drivers prepared to return to the pits following another red flag—this time triggered by Gabriel Bortoleto’s off-track excursion—Bearman approached the pit entry at what stewards later described as “full racing speed.”
Despite the session being neutralized and the clear requirement for all cars to slow down and return to the pit lane with caution, Bearman accelerated to 260kph as he entered the pit entry road.
The combination of cold brakes and tyres – a factor Bearman would later admit he failed to account for – saw him lose control of his Haas and crash heavily into the barriers, damaging the front wing with debris forcing other drivers to take evasive action.
The stewards immediately launched an investigation and after reviewing telemetry, onboard footage, and Bearman’s own testimony their findings were unequivocal.
The FIA stewards’ report stated: “Car 87 [Bearman] 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. He lost control of the car in the pit entry road and crashed into the barriers.”
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“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.
“We accordingly penalised him per the penalty guidelines to a drop of 10 grid places with 4 penalty points.”
Oliver Bearman penalty is particularly painful given his remarkable performance in qualifying, where he managed to secure a spot in Q3 and put his Haas eighth on the grid. The high-speed corners at Silverstone circuit have never played to Haas’s strengths, making his result all the more impressive.
However, the 10-place grid drop means he will start the F1 British Grand Prix from 18th, effectively overshadowing his qualifying gains and leaving him with a mountain to climb on Sunday.
This is not the first time Bearman has found himself on the wrong side of the stewards’ decisions this season. Earlier in the year, he received another 10-place grid penalty for passing Carlos Sainz’s Williams under red flag conditions during a practice session at the Monaco Grand Prix.
