Why Sauber avoided a penalty for Bortoleto dropping debris on the track

Sauber had nothing to celebrate after the Dutch Grand Prix as Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto finished out of the points.

There was some relief for the team after the race, however, as the stewards decided not to penalise them for failing to bring Bortoleto’s car in for repairs. He circulated for several laps at the start of the race with a visibly damaged left-hand front wing end plate.

Oliver Bearman raised concerns about Bortoleto’s damage on his radio. The broken end plate eventually fell onto the track where it was hit by Lance Stroll – ironically, the very driver whose contact with Bortoleto had broken the wing in the first place – and run over by other drivers including Lando Norris.

Race control has the power to demand teams make repairs to their cars by displaying the black-and-orange flag. Bortoleto was not shown the flag, yet after the end plate fell off his car the stewards announced his team was under investigation for failing to make the repair.

The stewards deemed Sauber did not need to bring Bortoleto into the pits as the end plate damage was not significant enough to require immediate attention.

“On lap one, a racing incident occurred between car five [Bortoleto] and car 18 [Stroll] at turn 12,” they noted. “As a result of that incident, [an] end plate of car five’s front wing sustained damage and was hanging but still connected. The issue was brought to the attention of the team by race control.

“The team elected not to pit car five because they were satisfied that the horizontal wing element […] inboard of the end plate retained its structural integrity. No black-and-orange flag was displayed to car five. Several laps later, the end plate dislodged and fell onto the track. The end plate was struck by car 18 but car 18 did not suffer a puncture or any other consequence or damage.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and

“Article 26.10 requires a driver to enter the pit lane if significant and obvious damage to a structural component results in it being in a condition presenting an immediate risk of endangering the driver or others. Article 26.10 has no application in this case because it was accepted by the FIA Representatives that the end plate is not a structural component.”

The stewards also cited a directive relating to car damage and determined Sauber should not be penalised because the broken end plate did not subsequently cause damage to another car or require a Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car period to be cleared away.

“We were also directed to FIA directive REF: No F1Tm/07-24 issued to all sporting directors which addresses the circumstances when a competitor is expected to address bodywork damage on their own initiative and regardless of whether a black and orange flag is displayed,” they noted. “We reviewed the directive and found that it did not apply as the dislodgement of the wing element in this instance did not result in a race intervention to remove it nor did it result in any damage to any other car.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and

2025 Dutch Grand Prix

• Ferrari overruled Leclerc’s call not to pit immediately before Antonelli collision
• McLaren reminded they can’t control everything in quest for a fair title fight
• Racing Bulls accuse Sainz of costing Lawson fifth place by “crashing into him”
• Why Sauber avoided a penalty for Bortoleto dropping debris on the track
• Piastri’s points gap not “comfortable” yet despite Dutch GP boost

Browse all 2025 Dutch Grand Prix articles