FIA punish Bottas for Vandoorne incident

FIA punish Bottas for Vandoorne incident

Joas van Wingerden

Saturday 25 August 2018 14:41

Valtteri Bottas was handed a reprimand by the FIA after almost causing a huge collision with the McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix. The Mercedes man ran the Belgian off the road coming out of Raidillion, sending Vandoorne into a nasty spin which ended in the barriers on the Kemmel Straight.

Bottas had allowed Vandoorne's team-mate Fernando Alonso through as the McLaren drivers tried to practice a tow on the long straight, however he did not see the Belgian moving up behind him.

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Drifting across to his left, Bottas soon shut the door on Vandoorne as he tried to go around the outside, forcing the McLaren man onto the grass.

Somehow Vandoorne avoided contact with Bottas and a serious thud into the barriers.

VIDEO: SCARY near-miss with Mercedes leaves Vandoorne in barriers

A stewards' notice revealed that Bottas admitted fault for the incident - claiming he had not seen Vandoorne in his mirrors and was unaware exactly how close he was, despite warning from his team over radio.

Any grid punishment would have been immaterial as Bottas will start from the back of the grid regardless, having taken a new power unit at Spa-Francorchamps.

UPDATE: @ValtteriBottas has been issued a reprimand following the incident involving Vandoorne in #FP3. It's Valtteri's first reprimand of the season.#BelgianGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/em7M5E1geb — Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) August 25, 2018