Formula 1: Post-race penalties issued to Sergio Perez, Brendon Hartley

Sergio Perez and Brendon Hartley both received post-race penalties following the second race of the 2018 Formula 1 season, the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Following the conclusion of the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, which was the second race of the 32-race 2018 Formula 1 season that was held at Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Sahara Force India’s Sergio Perez and Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley were both penalized.

The 28-year-old Perez and the 28-year-old Hartley were both given 30-second time penalties for not following the correct procedure on the formation lap prior to the start of the 57-lap race around the 15-turn, 5.412-kilometer (3.363-mile) circuit.

Here is what the stewards’ official statement in regard to these penalties, according to Motorsport.com.

"“Car 11 (Perez) overtook car 28 (Hartley) before Turn 1 and then during the remainder of the formation lap made no noticeable effort to allow car 28 to regain his position. The driver of car 11 also admitted the driver of car 28 was not unduly delayed when leaving the grid to start the formation lap.“In this case the stewards decided to not award penalty points as the penalty is thesufficient. Car 28 was overtaken by car 11 during the formation lap, failed to re-establish his position before the first safety car line and then did not enter the pits as required under Article 38.3.”"

Here is what Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting had to say about the matter, according to Motorsport.com.

"“I haven’t heard what Perez and Hartley have had to say yet, but Hartley didn’t actually know what he had to do. On the one hand, yes, Perez did overtake, but that’s fairly normal because not all cars leave the grid in the order of the grid.“The rule is written primarily for cars last away from the grid, but he can make his way back through the field, as long as he’s got back to his original position – like [Daniil] Kvyat in Canada last year. As long as he’s done that, he can start from the grid. If not, he has to start from the pits. Hartley didn’t [start from the pits], but he [also]didn’t actually try and get back [into position]. This is the slightly odd thing.”"

Perez finished the race in 12th place, but his 30-second penalty dropped him to 16th. Hartley finished the race in 13th, but his 30-second penalty dropped him to 17th. Charles Leclerc, Romain Grosjean, Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin moved up to 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th place from 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th place, respectively.