Gabriel Bortoleto given 10-second penalty after yellow-flag infringement at Azerbaijan GP

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Gabriel Bortoleto has been handed a 10-second time penalty after the stewards judged that the Audi driver overtook under a yellow flag during Saturday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. The incident was assessed by officials following an event on lap one between Turns 6 and 7 after the first Safety Car restart, with stewards stating that marshal posts in the area were showing physical “SC” boards alongside waved Yellow Flags after a Turn 1 crash involving Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, as well as Lando Norris’ McLaren.

Bortoleto finished P13 in the 51-lap race, with team mate Nico Hulkenberg finishing P11, but the penalty changed his classification. According to the stewards’ documentation, Bortoleto “initially reacted to the yellow flags” but “did not see any corresponding electronic indication and did not receive a Safety Car indication on his steering wheel,” and he was also informed by his team that the Safety Car had not been deployed.

Stewards concluded that because the Safety Car had not been deployed, Bortoleto “cannot be considered to have overtaken another car under Safety Car conditions.” However, they found that he still made an overtake while a yellow flag was present, which led to the 10-second penalty. The penalty dropped Bortoleto down to P15 and last among the classified runners.

The stewards’ decision also emphasized that a waved Yellow Flag is an instruction in its own right. They noted that “a waved Yellow Flag is an instruction in its own right and must be respected irrespective of any accompanying signal,” and that “a driver cannot disregard a Yellow Flag based on his own assessment as to why it has been displayed.”