Jack Doohan hit with penalty after Chinese GP sprint clash with Bortoleto

The FIA has penalised Alpine driver Jack Doohan for causing a collision with Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto during the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race.

The collision was minor with both drivers being able to continue the race with minimal damage. However, the Australian driver was summoned to the stewards for an alleged breach of Appendix L, Chapter IV, Article 2 d) of the FIA International Sporting Code.

After reviewing the case, the stewards handed Doohan a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points.

Confirming the decision, the stewards stated in the official letter:

“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 7 (Jack Doohan), the driver of Car 5 (Gabriel Bortoleto), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and in-car video evidence and determined as follows.

“DOO attempted to overtake BOR on the inside of turn 14 but locked up at the apex of the corner and collided with BOR. DOO suggested that he was in control of the overtake but the presence of the two Haas cars and the line they took compromised his overtake attempt.

“First, as the car attempting to overtake, the responsibility was on DOO to ensure that it was done in a safe manner and in line with the regulations and the guidelines.

“Secondly, applying the Driving Standards Guidelines, DOO did not have the right to the corner at the apex and should have backed off – here, because of the speed at which he approached the corner for the overtake and the resulting lockup and understeer, a collision was caused, for which DOO was predominantly to blame.”

Looking ahead, the rookie driver now needs to put this behind him and look forward to qualifying in just under an hour – 3 p.m. local time (7 a.m. GMT).

“It didn’t go exactly as planned, but I went for a move on the last lap at Turn 14, it didn’t exactly go to plan,” he admitted to the media following the sprint race. “I need to have a look into it and see what happened so that it doesn’t happen again and then put our focus to qualifying.”

Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton secured the victory in the sprint race, his first with Ferrari. He was followed by McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in second and third, respectively.