Oliver Bearman discovers penalty fate after 'potentially dangerous driving'

Oliver Bearman has been hit with another penalty point on his F1 super licence after his São Paulo sprint collision with Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson.  

The two drivers clashed at Turn 4 on the opening lap of the one-third distance race at Interlagos, with both pointing the finger at the other.

After the incident was initially noted by race control, it was progressed to a full investigation after the 24-lap race in Brazil.

The summons confirmed the main focus was the alleged "driving in a manner deemed potentially dangerous by Car 87 on a straight", that is on the approach to Turn 4, and not for the collision in Turn 4 itself.

The stewards have handed Bearman a five-second penalty, which has not affected the classification, with the Briton remaining in 12th.

But after recently losing two penalty points off his licence after the Mexico City GP to drop from 10 - and on the cusp of a race ban - to eight, the addition of a single point for this incident has placed him on nine.

Bearman has to wait until next May before further points are wiped off his licence.

Assessing the incident, the stewards observed: "After losing momentum at the exit of Turn 3, car 87 was approached by car 30 [Lawson], which had greater speed and was in the process of drawing alongside on the straight towards Turn 4.

"As car 30 attempted to move alongside, the driver of car 87 moved to the left, leaving insufficient room and forcing car 30 to place two wheels on the wet grass.

"Although car 30 managed to keep control and avoid contact, this manoeuvre occurred at high speed and created an unnecessary risk.

"The stewards consider that the move of car 87 constituted potentially dangerous driving, in breach of Appendix L, Chapter IV, Article 2 e) of the International Sporting Code.

"As no contact occurred, and car 30 was able to maintain control, and considering consistency with comparable previous cases, the stewards deem a five-second time penalty and one penalty point to be appropriate and proportionate."