Gabriel Bortoleto drops to last following time penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.

The incident occurred between Turns 6 and 7 during the first lap after the restart of the race. At the relevant time, marshal posts in this area were displaying physical "SC" boards together with waved yellow flags.

However, the stewards established that, at that time, the Safety Car had not in fact been deployed by Race Control.

Bortoleto explained that he initially reacted to the SC boards and flags. However, he did not see any corresponding electronic indication and did not receive a Safety Car indication on his steering wheel. He was also informed by his team that the Safety Car had not been deployed.

He therefore became uncertain as to the actual status of the race and, not wishing to lose position unnecessarily, subsequently overtook Sergio Perez.

The stewards accepted that the conflicting information contributed significantly to the situation. In particular, as the Safety Car had not been deployed, Bortoleto could not be considered to have overtaken another car under Safety Car conditions.

However, this did not dispose of the separate issue of the waved yellow flags.

Bortoleto confirmed that he had seen the flags but explained that, because they were displayed together with the SC boards, he understood them to be part of the same Safety Car indication and therefore considered that they were no longer relevant once he had been informed that the Safety Car had not been deployed.

The stewards did not accept this interpretation. A waved yellow flag is an instruction in its own right and must be respected irrespective of any accompanying signal. A driver cannot disregard a yellow flag based on his own assessment as to why it has been displayed or whether it should have been displayed.

The 2026 FIA practice likewise treats yellow flag indications as requiring compliance even where surrounding circumstances are unusual.

Accordingly, notwithstanding the understandable confusion concerning the SC boards, the Brazilian had seen the waved flags and nevertheless overtook Perez while the yellow flag condition remained in effect.

The Stewards therefore determine that Bortoleto overtook another car under yellow flag conditions, though they acknowledged that the erroneous SC indications and the conflicting information contributed to the circumstances of the incident.

However, these circumstances do not remove the obligation to respect a waved Yellow Flag and the stewards therefore apply the standard penalty for overtaking under a single yellow flag, a 10s time penalty which dropped the Audi driver from 13th to 15th.

No further action was taken over Valtteri Bottas, who, following his crash at Turn 15, exited his car, replaced the steering wheel, then remained in the vicinity of the car for a period of time, including inspecting its rear.

Bottas explained that, after the crash he proceeded to the rear of the car in order to ascertain whether a technical issue may have contributed to the incident. Indeed, he mentioned during the hearing that he believed he had a rear brakes failure.

The stewards noted that the Finn remained in the vicinity of the car for a relatively extended period of time rather than moving promptly to a place of safety.

During the hearing, the Cadillac driver acknowledged that he could have left the area more quickly and confirmed that, in similar circumstances in the future, he would endeavour to do so.

The stewards considered whether the driver's actions constituted an unsafe act or a failure to take reasonable measures resulting in an unsafe situation within the meaning of Article 12.2.1.h of the FIA International Sporting Code.

Having considered the circumstances, including the location of the car and the prevailing track conditions at the time, the stewards determined that the situation did not present a significant level of danger. They also acknowledged the driver's explanation and his commitment to leave the track more promptly in similar circumstances in the future.

Accordingly, they determined that no further action was required.

Finally, Carlos Sainz and Isack Hadjar were both given warnings for failing to follow the Race Director's instructions.

In separate incidents during the reconnaissance laps, they approached the pit exit and did not intend to perform a practice start, while another driver was waiting in the pit exit road to perform a practice start.

Paragraph 13.6 of the Race Director's competition notes require a car not wishing to perform a practice start to cross the white line separating the pit exit road from the track at the earliest opportunity and join the normal racing line. Instead, both remained within the pit exit road and passed to the right of the cars waiting to perform practice start before joining the track.

The stewards determine that both failed to follow the Race Director's instructions.

At the hearing, it was established that their teams had given them incorrect instructions as to how they should proceed in this situation, and that both drivers acted in accordance with those instructions.

While the driver remains responsible for complying with the Race Director's instructions, the stewards considered the incorrect information provided by the teams to be a significant mitigating factor.

The stewards considered comparable previous incidents, where a driving reprimand had been applied for failing to follow the Race Director's instructions during reconnaissance laps. In the particular circumstances of this case, the stewards considered the drivers' personal responsibility to be reduced by the incorrect instruction given to them by their teams and therefore considered a lesser penalty appropriate.

Consequently both drivers received warnings.

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