F1 driver slapped with huge grid penalty at Monaco Grand Prix after rule breach

driver has been slapped with a hefty grid penalty for overtaking under red flag conditions during practice for the Monaco Grand Prix. Television replays showed Bearman appearing to overtake Carlos Sainz during a red flag that had been of Friday's action.

The stewards subsequently noted the incident, opened an investigation and decided Bearman would be given a 10-place grid penalty. It means that Bearman, alongside Lance Stroll, will start Saturday's qualifying session with penalties hanging over them.

The decision document from the stewards read: "Well prior to the overtake, the session had been red flagged. The team informed the driver rather late, just before the overtake happened. However, it is clear from the video footage that there was a light panel directly in front of the driver which showed the red flag and the dashboard also indicated the red flag well before the overtake took place.

"The regulations require the drivers to 'immediately' reduce speed and proceed slowly back to their respective pits (Article 2.5.4.1 b)). The same regulations caution drivers of the fact that in a red flag situation, 'overtaking is forbidden' and that drivers should 'remember that race and service vehicles may be on the track...'.

"The driver claimed that he saw the red flags but decided not to slow down abruptly because he felt that slowing down abruptly would have been more dangerous and that what he did was a safer way of handling the situation."

It continued: "We disagreed with his decision to not take steps to slow down sufficiently to avoid overtaking another car and instead proceeding slowly back to the pits, as required. The whole purpose of requiring drivers to slow down immediately is for safety - they will not know what is in front of them or the reason for the red flag being shown. This is particularly so in a track like Monaco.

"In the circumstances, there is no mitigating factor for the fact that he overtook a car under red flag and we therefore imposed a penalty of a 10-grid place drop for the race and two penalty points."

It could prove crucial ahead of Sunday's race, given Monaco is notoriously difficult for overtaking. However, that's something the race organisers have addressed this year, introducing a mandatory two-stop policy for the race in the principality.

It comes after last year's race in Monaco was marred by an early crash that allowed drivers to change their tyres and thus negate any necessary pit stop requirements. Qualifying will take place on Saturday, before the main race gets underway on Sunday.