Oliver Bearman will be investigated by the stewards for a red flag infringement as the Haas driver attacked the pit entry under reds, and crashed his VF-25.
Bearman had an incident-packed final 10 minutes in Saturday’s final practice for the British Grand Prix.
Oliver Bearman is off to see the FIA stewards
Up in sixth place on the timesheet, the Briton lost a piece of bodywork off his Haas which brought out the first red flag of the session.
Back underway, it wasn’t long before the second red flag was shown as Gabriel Bortoleto crashed his Sauber.
The Brazilian driver had a moment through Maggotts and went spinning, with his suspension breaking on the kerbs and the driver ending up in the gravel with his front left hanging on by its tether.
Bortoleto reported: “I’m okay, but the suspension is broken.”
That sent the 19 drivers out on track back into the pits, doing so red flag conditions.
Bearman, however, attacked the pit entry and lost control of his Haas, hitting the barriers and sheering off his car’s front wing and nose.
“Oh my god! Someone just crashed in the pit entrance! Whohaha, what!” said Max Verstappen who was behind him at the time.
Bearman blamed cold brakes, but the FIA could take a dim view of his antics with the driver noted by race control for a red flag infringement.
Bearman and Haas have been summoned to see the stewards, the note reading: ‘Alleged breach of Appendix H, Article 2.5.4.1 b) of the International Sporting Code and Article 37.6(a) of the Formula One Sporting Regulations – Failing to comply with a red flag at 12:36.’
Former F1 driver Anthony Davidson reckons Bearman could be in a lot a trouble.
“At the time it was under red flags, you can see clearly,” he said in the Sky F1 broadcast.
“The drivers are fully aware that they should be sticking to a very slow speed and not pushing the pit lane entry necessarily, which is exactly what Bearman was doing.
“The speed he’s carrying in and that’s why it’s enough energy to just lock the rear momentarily. And that’s what’s sent the car spinning around.
“So drivers following him into the pit lane there, now they’re compromised.
“It’s obviously the red flags out there for safety and you’ve got to ask yourself, ‘is that the safest thing to be doing under red flag?’
“I think the stewards might come down on him pretty hard for this one.”
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