Bottas given grid penalty for red flag infringement

2015 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Valtteri Bottas has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Willimas driver was found to have overtaken Felipe Nasr when red flags were displayed during second practice.

“The driver of car 77 admitted he overtook car 12 under red flags,” the stewards noted.

“The stewards in applying the penalty took into consideration that despite the considerable speed difference between the cars, the driver of car 77 could have avoided overtaking under the red flag.”

Bottas was also given two penalty points on his licence.

Sebastian Vettel was previously given a grid penalty for overtaking under a red flag during practice in Canada.

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    Keith Collantine
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    12 comments on “Bottas given grid penalty for red flag infringement”

    1. Mika Salo is the steward.

    2. Vettel got a 5 place grid penalty and 3 points. I’m loving the consistency.

      1. @AceAce, In the case of Vettel, I think that the reason why his penalty was harsher was because he passed five marshals posts, all of which were clearly showing red flags, before passing Merhi on the back straight. In passing Merhi, Vettel was also breaking the rule that states that drivers should travel to the pits slowly and be prepared to stop on track if necessary, when the onboard video footage indicates that Vettel was travelling in excess of 300kph down the back straight.

        It might therefore be the case that Vettel’s penalty wasn’t solely just for passing other drivers under red flags, but for also driving under red flag conditions in a way that was considered reckless – in other words, a doubling up of the penalty for offences related to passing Merhi under red flag conditions.

        1. That makes complete sense. They both passed under red flags but one breaking more rules on top of this.

        2. Exactly Anon.

          Vettels case was just plain ignoring the flags for a whole stretch. This one did happen at the first flag show, making it a bit less egrarious.

    3. There was a time I used to think Bottas was a potential wc.

      1. And getting a three-place grid penalty changes this how?

        1. Probably means this adds another disappointing factor onto a list of disappointing factors this season in their opinion?

          1. I guess Vettel must be washed up after his penalty then…

            1. its not about the penalty, its about yet another disappointing mistake to a season littered with those @blackbox @pastaman

      2. @pmccarthy_is_a_legend Well, possibly coming 4th in the championship for a 2nd year running isn’t too bad, even though he’s had a worse season than last.

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