Northamptonshire (U.K.), July 5 (IANS) Ollie Bearman has been handed a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s British Grand Prix following a red flag infringement during the weekend’s third and final practice hour. The session had already proven eventful for Bearman, the Haas driver earlier sparking a red flag after losing a piece of bodywork from his car out on track, which resulted in the marshals having to retrieve the part.

But there was worse to come for the Briton when a second red flag was thrown in the latter stages, owing to Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto spinning off and becoming beached in the gravel.

As he headed into the pit lane at the Silverstone Circuit, Bearman had a spin of his own and hit the barriers, losing the front wing from his VF-25 in the process.

With the incident happening under red flag conditions, it was subsequently investigated by the stewards, who opted to hand the 20-year-old a grid drop of 10 places for Sunday’s race.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets during Saturday’s final practice session for the British Grand Prix, leading the way from Piastri, Verstappen and Norris, with Yuki Tsunoda an encouraging fifth for Red Bull, Bearman taking sixth, before making the mistake while entering the pitlane, and Albon putting Williams back into the top 10 positions.

Russell was the fastest of the Mercedes cars on a so far difficult weekend for the Silver Arrows, placing eighth over the Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson, Hamilton, and the other Williams and Haas machines of Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon.

Next up was Antonelli in 14th, as the Saubers of Nico Hulkenberg and Bortoleto, along with the Aston Martins and the Alpines, brought up the rear – Fernando Alonso placing in front of Franco Colapinto, Stroll, and Pierre Gasly.

British driver Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time World Drivers’ Champion, won the 2024 British Grand Prix driving for Mercedes.

–IANS

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