Breaking news

Formula 1 United States GP

Bottas escapes punishment for Q3 infringement

Formula 1 drivers Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon have escaped punishment after being investigated for driving unnecessarily slowly on their respective in-laps in United States Grand Prix qualifying.

Scott Mitchell

Scott Mitchell

Edited: Oct 21, 2018, 2:28 AM

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+

Formula 1 drivers Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon have escaped punishment after being investigated for driving unnecessarily slowly on their respective in-laps in United States Grand Prix qualifying.

Mercedes driver Bottas qualified third for the Austin race while Ocon put his Racing Point Force India sixth on the grid.

Both were summoned to the stewards on Saturday evening for allegedly breaching Article 27.4 of the FIA’s F1 sporting regulations, “driving unnecessarily slowly on an in-lap during qualifying”, after the chequered flag in the final part of qualifying.

However, the stewards have decided to take no further action.

Read Also:

They deemed both drivers had exceeded the specified maximum time between safety car lines but accepted neither had driven “unnecessarily slowly or in a manner to adversely affect any other driver”.

A grid penalty for Bottas would have elevated his team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s championship rival Sebastian Vettel ahead of Sunday’s potential title-deciding grand prix.

Vettel set the second-fastest time in qualifying but was demoted to fifth for a red-flag offence on Friday.

He needs to avoid being outscored by Hamilton by eight points to stop the British driver claiming the title in the US.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Read also :

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Previous article Verstappen "amazed" by freak suspension breakage

Next article Wolff: Stewards had no choice but to penalise Vettel

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

More from

Scott Mitchell



Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur

Formula 1

Formula 1

Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur



Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'

Formula 1

Formula 1

Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'



Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari

Formula 1

Formula 1

Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari

More from

Valtteri Bottas



Colton Herta qualifies for F1 superlicence as Valtteri Bottas remains bullish on 2027 seat

Formula 1

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

Colton Herta qualifies for F1 superlicence as Valtteri Bottas remains bullish on 2027 seat



Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction

Formula 1

Formula 1

Mexican GP

Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction



You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas

Formula 1

Canadian GP

You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas

More from

Mercedes



How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos



Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

12 h

Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP



Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win

Formula 1

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

13 h

Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win

Latest news



Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

29 min

Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso



Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

1 h

Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed



Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management



WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

3 h

WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash

Feature

Discover prime content



How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once



How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos



"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap



What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts

Subscribe