F1 driver given grid penalty at Mexico GP – but isn’t even due to race

Robert Shwartzman filled in for Sauber in FP1 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez as F1 rules force all teams to give up two such sessions per season for rookie drivers

Robert Shwartzman has been handed a grid penalty by the Mexican Grand Prix stewards – even though he is not expected to start the race.

The Israeli racer took part in the first practice session of the race weekend. All teams are required to field rookies in at least two FP1 session per season and Sauber turned to engine suppliers Ferrari to borrow their junior driver.

But Shwartzman landed himself in hot water with the stewards with his actions during the session. After an incident on track, they decided that he had not slowed down enough while yellow flags were being waved, and also overtook another car.

And even though Shwartzman is not due to race in Mexico City this weekend, they decided to hand him a five-place grid penalty anyway. Should he ever race in F1 in the future, he will carry the penalty with him and it will be applied at his debut race.

The stewards did acknowledge the unusual nature of the situation in the official decision document which read: “The stewards heard from the driver of Car 97 [Shwartzman], team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, team radio and in-car video evidence.

“Following the incident at T9 Shwartzman passed a single waved yellow, and a double yellow flag before overtaking [Yuki] Tsunoda in the yellow zone while traveling at speed.

“The penalty is the usual penalty for passing under a double yellow, and while the stewards recognize that the driver is not scheduled to start the race, they have applied the consistent penalty.”

Shwarztman, 25, remains a part of the Ferrari family despite having failed to break into F1. He finished second in the 2021 Formula 2 championship but that still wasn’t enough for him to land a seat on the F1 grid the following year and he has remained a reserve for the Italian squad.

Since then, he has raced in other disciplines, most regularly with the Ferrari-associated AF Corse outfit. He was a race winner in the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup series and also has a Hypercar class victory in this year’s World Endurance Championship.

As part of the latter season he competed at the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside F1 cult hero Robert Kubica and China’s Yifei Ye, completing 248 laps of the Circuit de la Sarthe, but they failed to finish the race.