Švarcman was punished in 5 places. Albon and Bearman hit with impunity

Robert Švarcman replaced Kuan-yu Chou in the Sauber car in the first practice session. The stewards penalized him for passing under a yellow flag.

Teams must use two training sessions per season for young drivers. Švarcman replaced Chou in the first training session in Mexico.

At the time of the crash between Bearman and Albon, a yellow flag was shown at turn nine, followed by a double yellow. Švarcman passed Cunoda in this area, which is of course forbidden. He was punished in 5 places for this.

“The penalty is the usual penalty for overtaking under a double yellow and although the stewards recognize that the driver has no plans to start the race, they applied the appropriate penalty.”

The situation is reminiscent of the Monaco Grand Prix 2017 Jenson Button returned to F1 there for one race to replace Fernando Alonso, who sent off the Indy 500. In the race, he collided with Pascal Wehrlein, and received a penalty for the next race. But he didn’t go into it anymore.

Beating without punishment

The collision between Albon and Bearman himself did not go unpunished.

According to the stewards, Bearman was in a cooling and recharging cycle and was going so slowly. He was told about the cars behind him. Just after the 9th lap he went right as Albon passed him. He took his foot off the gas in a corner, causing oversteer.

“Both riders agreed that Bearman’s position was not unreasonable, but it was
unfortunate because it was close to Albon’s track,” the stewards said. “If Bearman had been a little lower on the track, the incident would not have happened. All parties agreed that it was an incident this was racing.’