Valtteri Bottas will lose three places on the grid for this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix after being found guilty of overtaking under a red flag during free practice.
The Williams Martini Racing driver overtook the Sauber of Felipe Nasr while the red flags were out when Fernando Alonso stopped on circuit following a power issue on his McLaren, with Bottas being penalised as a result.
Stewards at Interlagos, which include Bottas’ fellow Finn Mika Salo as the Driver’s representative, deemed the incident was worth the three-place grid drop as well as two penalty points on his superlicence, the first two points he has received in the past twelve months.
“The driver of car #77 [Bottas] admitted he overtook car #12 [Nasr] under red flags,” said a FIA statement.
“The stewards, in applying the penalty, took into consideration that despite the considerable speed difference between the cars, the driver of car #77 could have avoided overtaking under the red flag.”
