Marshals incorrectly warned drivers the Safety Car had been deployed during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The stewards confirmed marshals showed Safety Car boards to drivers following the first restart during Saturday’s race.Several drivers crashed at the first corner following the restart. In the aftermath marshals at some corners showed Safety Car warning boards to drivers even though race control had not sent it back out.
“At the relevant time, marshal posts in this area were displaying physical ‘SC’ boards together with waved yellow flags,” the stewards noted in a document. “However, the stewards established that, at that time, the Safety Car had not in fact been deployed by race control.”
The stewards made the admission while explaining why Gabriel Bortoleto was given a 10-second time penalty for overtaking under yellow flags. They acknowledged Bortoleto was confused by the incorrect signal.
“[Bortoleto] explained that he initially reacted to the SC boards and yellow flags. However, he did not see any corresponding electronic indication and did not receive a Safety Car indication on his steering wheel. He was also informed by his team that the Safety Car had not been deployed. Bortoleto therefore became uncertain as to the actual status of the race and, not wishing to lose position unnecessarily, subsequently overtook [Perez].
“The stewards accept that the conflicting information contributed significantly to the situation. In particular, as the Safety Car had not been deployed, Bortoleto cannot be considered to have overtaken another car under Safety Car conditions.”
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However the stewards ruled Bortoleto’s confusion about the Safety Car situation did not justify him breaking the rules by overtaking under yellow flags.
“Bortoleto confirmed that he had seen the yellow flags but explained that, because they were displayed together with the SC boards, he understood them to be part of the same Safety Car indication and therefore considered that they were no longer relevant once he had been informed that the Safety Car had not been deployed.
“The stewards do not accept this interpretation. A waved yellow flag is an instruction in its own right and must be respected irrespective of any accompanying signal. A driver cannot disregard a yellow flag based on his own assessment as to why it has been displayed or whether it should have been displayed. The 2026 FIA practice likewise treats yellow flag indications as requiring compliance even where surrounding circumstances are unusual.
“Accordingly, notwithstanding the understandable confusion concerning the SC boards, Bortoleto had seen the waved yellow flags and nevertheless overtook Perez while the yellow flag condition remained in effect. The stewards therefore determine that Bortoleto overtook another car under yellow flag conditions.
“The stewards acknowledge that the erroneous SC indications and the conflicting information contributed to the circumstances of the incident. However, these circumstances do not remove the obligation to respect a waved yellow flag and the stewards therefore apply the standard penalty for overtaking under a single yellow flag.”
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