Sergio Perez, Force India, Bahrain International Circuit, 2018

Perez gets 30-second penalty for passing Hartley on formation lap

2018 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Sergio Perez has had 30 seconds added to his race time for overtaking Brendon Hartley on the formation lap.

The stewards ruled the Force India driver overtook Hartley and failed to let him through before the Safety Car line as required by the rules.

“The stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from Sergio Perez, the driver of car 11 and the team representative,” noted the stewards.

Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Bahrain International Circuit, 2018
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“Car 11 overtook car 28 before turn 1 and then during the remainder of the formation lap made no noticeable effort to allow car 28 to regain his position. The driver of car 11 also admitted the driver of car 28 was not unduly delayed when leaving the grid to start the formation lap.”

The stewards gave Perez a 10-second stop-go penalty. As this was not applied during the race, it is converted into a 30-second time penalty. Hartley received the same penalty for not being in the correct starting order at the Safety Car line.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting said Hartley had dropped back from the rear of the Force India on the formation lap after Perez passed him.

“Perez went past Hartley when they left the grid which is quite common if a car’s a little bit slow away, the other car will go past. But it normally sorts itself out unless the car is the last one away or something like that.

“Normally if one if just a bit slow away maybe two cars might pass him but after two or three corners they get back in position. But it seems that Hartley was a little slow, he dropped back a little bit, you can see it from the onboard he’s dropping back.”

The penalty drops Perez from 12th to 16th in the final classification.

This article will be updated.

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Keith Collantine
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13 comments on “Perez gets 30-second penalty for passing Hartley on formation lap”

  1. Wait, this got me confused. So did Hartley overtake Perez or did Perez overtake Hartley? And did they both get a penalty for having this happen??

    1. Something like that, yes @bascb

    2. Perez overtook Hartley who made no effort to take the position back.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        9th April 2018, 1:48

        @bleu Does he have to? Did they also start in the wrong positions?

        1. If the driver has not regained the position by the safety car line he has to start from the pit lane which Hartley did not do.

  2. It says Perez did not let him back past but Hartley got a penalty for not taking back the position in time? Which is it, if Perez did not let him by why is Hartley penalised?

  3. I don’t understand the logic behind 30 secs of penalty for this and 10 secs for cause a collision and destroy other (s) drivers race, simply dont get it

  4. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    8th April 2018, 22:18

    I have no clue what happened here. Did Perez just overtake Hartley on the formation lap or did he also start in Hartley’s spot on the grid?

    Did Hartley get penalized because Perez took Hartley’s spot on the grid? The stewards have been know to do crazy things…

    Why did Hartley get penalized for bumping Perez at the start of the race? If Perez started in Hartley’s spot, then I’m not Hartley for bumping a car that’s in the wrong spot…

    Anyway, this is bonkers:-)

  5. If they started the formation lap in their correct positions, and lined up on the starting grid in their correct positions, then Hartley must have regained the position he lost when Perez went ahead (or Perez must have given it back at some point during the formation lap). Therefore neither driver deserves a penalty.

    Alternatively, if as a result of Perez’s formation lap overtake, Hartley lined up behind Perez on the grid when he should have been in front, then he has disadvantaged himself. When it’s a track limits infringement, penalties are only given if there is a lasting advantage to the offending driver. Yet here Hartley is being penalised for disadvantaging himself. What kind of logic is this, that makes any kind of sense?

    Get a grip, Charlie!

  6. More exciting Formula 1 on track action!

    F1 has turned into the Bureaucrat Racing League.

  7. I didn’t even notice this particular incident during the formation lap at all, LOL.

    1. I’m willing to bet neither of the drivers did, either.

  8. I also have a problem with this. First, I agree that the penalties were excessive as this occured on the formation lap and had NO influence on the outcome of the race. If they consider it a safety issue (having to “shuffle” for grid position at last moment?) then a reprimand and/or warning would suffice. Also, however, the very wording of the penalty on Perez states car 11 (Perez) “made no noticeable effort to ALLOW car 28 to regain his position.”. The emphasis on allow is mine. If it was within Perez’s power to allow or not allow Hartley to regain or not his position, then how can Hartley be penalized??

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