Miyata and Bennett penalised after Jeddah Sprint Race

Following the conclusion of the Jeddah Sprint Race, John Bennett and Ritomo Miyata have been handed penalties for various incidents.

Firstly, ART Grand Prix driver Miyata has been assigned a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

During the race, Car 25 of Rafael Villagómez initiated an overtake at Turn 1 and was ahead of Car 15 at the exit of Turn 1. The driver of Car 15 then went off track and rejoined ahead of Car 25 after Turn 2.

After reviewing video evidence and hearing from both the team and driver, the Stewards determined that Miyata had left the track and gained a lasting advantage over Car 25 at Turn 2.

The incident amounted to a breach of Article 27.3 of the FIA Formula 2 Sporting Regulations, and the Stewards elected to apply the standard 10-second time penalty to the ART driver as a result.

The penalty moves Miyata from P18 in the order down to 19th. It promotes TRIDENT’s Max Esterson up one position.

Finally, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Bennett has been handed a 10-second time penalty.

The Van Amersfoort Racing driver did not follow the Safety Car into the pitlane as ordered by the Race Director, breaching Article 12.2.1.i of the FIA International Sporting Code by failing to follow the Race Director’s instructions.

After hearing from the driver and team representative, Stewards considered that Car 24 entered the pitlane in order to not interfere with the race restart, and considered the action a mitigating factor.

As a result, the Stewards handed Bennett a 10-second time penalty. The VAR driver remains 20th in the Sprint classification.