Gabriel Bortoleto handed 5-place Qatar grid drop for wiping out Lance Stroll in Las Vegas. Gabriel Bortoleto receives a five-place grid penalty for the Qatar GP.

The Brazilian driver has been punished for hitting the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll on the opening lap of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, forcing the Canadian to retire. The panel of stewards initially handed him a 10-second time penalty, but since Gabriel retired on lap 2 and could not serve it, the punishment has been converted into a five-place grid drop for the race in Lusail.

It is not a great moment for Gabriel Bortoleto. After the disastrous – in the literal sense of the word – Brazilian Grand Prix, where he destroyed two Saubers, the rookie was hoping for a comeback performance in Las Vegas. Things did not go the way the 21-year-old from Osasco expected, extending a difficult phase of his season in which he is showing excessive aggression that is overshadowing his undeniable talent.

In fact, Gabriel will be dropped five places on the starting grid for the Qatar Grand Prix because he was deemed fully responsible for the incident at Turn 1 on the opening lap in Las Vegas. He quite literally rammed into the innocent Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, with the Canadian suddenly struck by the C45 – a green and black missile that immediately put him out of the race.

The stewards’ panel, which included former Italian F1 driver Antonio Liuzzi, did not hesitate to issue a 10-second time penalty to the Brazilian for violating the FIA Sporting Code, Appendix L, Chapter IV, Article 2(d). Since Bortoleto retired after just a couple of laps due to the impact, he could not serve the penalty. As a result, it has been converted into a five-place grid drop and the loss of two superlicence points – the first two out of the 12 allowed over a one-year period.

Usually, we are accustomed to seeing stewards show more leniency during the opening lap, but Gabriel’s mistake was so blatant that there were no mitigating circumstances to avoid applying the full punitive measure.

The difficult race in Nevada will therefore have negative consequences even at the penultimate round of the championship, while the more experienced Nico Hülkenberg continues to bring home valuable points for the Swiss team, which is slowly changing its DNA as it transitions from Sauber to Audi.

For Bortoleto, Qatar now represents another chance to draw a line under a difficult chapter – albeit from five grid positions further back than he would have liked.