Why the stewards gave Shwartzman a remarkable five place grid penalty

F1 News

Shwartzman handed five place grid penalty in F1
25 October at 21:52

Robert Shwartzman has been handed a five-place grid penalty because he overtook during yellow flags. The 25-year-old participated in the FP1 session during the Mexican Grand Prix weekend as part of the mandatory rookie tests for Sauber.

The stewards decided that Shwartzman will get a drop of five grid positions in the next race in which the driver participates. Shwartzman is unlikely to secure a seat in Formula 1 as he doesn't seem to be an option for Sauber. The only other unconfirmed seat is at Visa Cash App RB, which Red Bull will keep in-house.

Why Shwartzman has a penalty

"Following the incident at T9 Shwartzman passed a single waved yellow, and a double yellow flag before overtaking Tsunoda in the yellow zone while traveling at speed. The penalty is the usual penalty for passing under a double yellow, and while the Stewards recognize that the driver is not scheduled to start the race, they have applied the consistent penalty," the report stated.