Oliver Bearman says Formula 1’s racing guidelines created a “harsh scenario” after the stewards penalised him for a collision in the Italian Grand Prix.
The Haas driver is at risk of triggering an automatic race ban after moving onto a total of 10 penalty points for his collision with Carlos Sainz Jnr at Monza.
The collision occured as Sainz overtook Bearman on the outside heading into the Roggia chicane. The stewards ruled Bearman responsible because, under the terms of F1’s racing guidelines, he had lost the right to the racing line on the way into the corner. However Bearman says many people agree his penalty was not fair.
“It’s annoying to be governed by these guidelines which I feel are quite vague in some areas and quite specific in others,” he told the official Formula 1 channel. “With my incident in Monza I felt like I was pretty hard done by.
“The guidelines state that I don’t deserve any space on the inside in that specific scenario, which in my view is a bit harsh. Of course, I’m biased towards myself, but I think a lot of people will agree and say that was quite a harsh scenario.”
Last week Williams successfully challenged a penalty Sainz received in the previous round at Zandvoort where the stewards also held him responsible for a collision which occured after he lost the right to the racing line. However Haas chose not to challenge Bearman’s penalty.
Bearman received two penalty points for the collision. If he picks up two more this weekend or in any of the next three rounds after it, he will trigger an automatic ban.
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“It’s definitely something that I have to take into account,” he said. “It’s a shame to be at this point, but I just have to have a few clean races.”
Oliver Bearman’s penalty points
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