Oliver Bearman has lost his eighth-place finish in Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix sprint race after being pinged for an unsafe release in front of Nico Hulkenberg, which promotes Yuki Tsunoda into the points.
During a series of tyre changes in the second half of the sprint as the track dried enough for slicks, Haas driver Bearman was seen being released alongside Hulkenberg as the German driver was due to make his own stop.
Bearman stayed on the outside ‘lane’, which caused mechanics in the Williams garage to have to step out of the way. The Essex, UK native was classified in eighth when Max Verstappen was handed a 10-second penalty for his own unsafe release, caused for contact with Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
As a result of the five-second penalty, Bearman now loses the point and has been demoted to 15th place ahead of Hulkenberg’s Sauber team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto.
The report from the FIA stewards read: “The Stewards reviewed video and in-car video evidence. Car 87 was released into the path of Car 27 which was arriving in the fast lane, causing Car 27 to brake and take evasive action.”
Bearman’s penalty thus elevates Yuki Tsunoda into the top eight, ensuring Red Bull has at least scored a point in the Saturday race following Verstappen’s penalty.
Tsunoda was the first driver to stop for slick tyres having started from the pitlane, after he was caught out by traffic in qualifying and then missed the opportunity to do a second SQ1 time amid a delay leaving the pits.
The pace of Tsunoda on the medium tyre thus demonstrated to the other teams that the race had been fast approaching the crossover point for slicks, prompting a series of stops to ditch the intermediate tyres.
The results of investigations over a safety car infringement for Alex Albon and Liam Lawson’s clash with Fernando Alonso are currently pending, which may change the distribution of points from the sprint further.
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Photos from Miami GP – Sprint
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