Bearman questions F1 penalty after unusual circumstances

Ollie Bearman was left stumped by the 10-second time penalty he received for colliding with Franco Colapinto in the São Paulo Grand Prix given it did not impact the Williams. 

On lap four in the tough conditions at Interlagos, Bearman, deputising for the unwell Kevin Magnussen, tapped the back of Colapinto's Williams at Turn 9 in the infield, spinning himself as the Argentine continued unimpeded.

For the incident, Bearman was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision and received two penalty points on his superlicence. 

The stewards felt he was "wholly" to blame, but Bearman has questioned the decision.

"I hit him, but hardly touched him and nothing happened to him," Bearman told media including RacingNews365. 

"I lost 10 seconds [with the spin], and then I got a 10-second penalty for losing 10 seconds, so it was really harsh. 

"But racing with other cars was much more useful than a test, and I got to learn a track which I wasn't going to be able to do without this race.

"The conditions were tough, but I definitely learned a lot."

Bearman's honest reflection

It was Bearman's first point-less F1 race, after seventh in Saudi Arabia on his debut with Ferrari and 10th in Azerbaijan for Haas, on a messy day in which he ran wide at Junçao, and hit the barrier, needing a new front wing. 

The 19-year-old would eventually finish 12th, just seven seconds behind Lewis Hamilton in 10th, meaning without the penalty, Bearman would have finished ninth, also ahead of RB's Liam Lawson. 

Although conceding to making errors, he feels he deserves credit for his overall display over the weekend.

"I didn't deliver a good race, made a lot of mistakes, but if you look at the grid, I'm one of the only people to finish," he added.

"To be the best, I needed to stay on track to score points, but unfortunately, I didn't do that, I made some mistakes.

"Definitely it was tough conditions, but I still wasn't good enough.