Shwartzman handed grid penalty despite not being entered for race · RaceFans

The FIA stewards have handed a five-place grid penalty to a driver who is not scheduled to start a Formula 1 race.

Robert Shwartzman was penalised for overtaking Yuki Tsunoda under double waved yellow flags.

Shwartzman, a member of AF Corse’s World Endurance Championship team, was driving for Sauber in the first practice session. He was present to fulfil an FIA requirement that each F1 car is given over to an experienced driver in at least one practice session each season.

The incident occured during first practice following a collision between Oliver Bearman and Alexander Albon. Shwartzman witnessed the crash, but as he returned to the pits he failed to take account of the yellow flags and overtook the RB.

The stewards made their decision after speaking to the 25-year-old and studying video, team radio and data from the incident.

“Following the incident at [turn nine], Shwartzman passed a single waved yellow, and a double yellow flag before overtaking Tsunoda in the yellow zone while traveling at speed.

“The penalty is the usual penalty for passing under a double yellow, and while the stewards recognise that the driver is not scheduled to start the race, they have applied the consistent penalty.”

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Shwartzman was making his sixth appearance in an official FIA practice session, having done so four times for Ferrari from 2022-23 and once previously for Sauber this year. He was previously a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and won the FIA Formula 3 championship in 2019.

As Shwartzman does not have an F1 contract for next season, there is no guarantee he will ever serve his penalty. The stewards did not levy any further penalty or add penalty points to his licence.

The stewards have previously issued penalties which were never served. Jenson Button was given a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Pascal Wehrlein in the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix, where he was making a one-off appearance as a substitute for Fernando Alonso, which was his last F1 start.