Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman criticizes FIA after harsh penalty in Monaco. Oliver Bearman slams the FIA for a harsh 10-place grid penalty in Monaco.

In Monaco, Oliver Bearman still has issues with the FIA’s handling of his actions. The British driver has once again been hit with a controversial penalty.

For now, it seems relations between Oliver Bearman and the FIA are strained, something that became apparent again in Monaco. After the Federation’s controversial decision during qualifying in Imola, the stewards have once again penalized the British driver heavily, prompting his criticism.

Back in Italy, the Haas driver was “disadvantaged” during qualifying due to a red flag that, by mere milliseconds, had prevented him from completing his lap.

As a result, the 2005-born driver was denied the opportunity to progress to the next phase. Oliver Bearman had already contested the stewards’ decision, arguing that the red flag had been waved just after he crossed the line.

Now, another unusual episode involving the Briton and another red flag. This time it happened in FP2 at Monaco, with the interruption caused by Oscar Piastri’s crash into the wall.

At that moment, Oliver Bearman was travelling at high speed at the end of the circuit, just before Rascasse. In front of him was Carlos Sainz, already going more slowly, but the Briton didn’t lift off and overtook him. This led to a heavy FIA penalty: 10 grid positions for Sunday’s race and two penalty points on his license.

The very severe sanction will force the Haas driver to start from the back of the grid, after qualifying in P17. However, Oliver Bearman strongly disagreed with the Federation’s decision, which he believes was excessive.

“Given the circumstances at that moment, I reacted because the red flag came one second later,” the Haas driver told Mara Sangiorgio. “As a human being, I need a bit of time to understand what’s going on. I was 17 meters behind the car that was already stopped in front of me (Sainz’s). Stopping in time would have been nearly impossible without causing a dangerous accident.”

“In a split second I made the decision I believed was safest at that moment, which was to overtake him. This penalty feels incredibly harsh. It really hurts because the car was giving me great feelings today in qualifying,” concluded a disheartened Oliver Bearman.