Oliver Bearman discovers stewards fate after Monaco investigation

Oliver Bearman has escaped a penalty, but his Haas team have been fined €5,000 following an incident prior to the Monaco Grand Prix. 

On his reconnaissance lap to the grid, Bearman was released from the garage in an "unsafe condition" with a leaf-blower still in the sidepods. 

As is normally the case in these situations, Bearman escaped a sporting penalty, with Haas being handed a fine for breaching Article 34.14 c) of the sport regulations. 

The stewards' report read: "The Stewards heard from the team representative of Car 87 (Oliver Bearman) and reviewed video and in-car video evidence. The team left a cooling fan attached to Car 87 when they released the car for the reconnaissance lap. 

"A member of the pit crew had to run after the car and enter the fast lane to detach the fan before the car was able to proceed further down the fast lane. Due to the nature of the track, the cars were backed up and any danger was mitigated by the quick action of the team. 

"However, it is beyond doubt that the team should not have released the car in that manner and it could have had an impact on the safety of the driver and other drivers. 

"As this happened during the reconnaissance lap, we treated the infringement like an infringement happening during free practice (see point 9 of the Penalty Guidelines). We accordingly imposed a fine of €5,000 on the team."