Revealed: The F1 grid penalty that may never be served

What do Robert Shwartzman and Jenson Button have in common? They both have grid penalties in Formula 1 that they’re unlikely to ever serve.
Back in 2017, Button contested a one-off race with McLaren when the retired World Champion filled in for Fernando Alonso at the Monaco Grand Prix.
‘The driver is not scheduled to start the race…’
That Sunday he was slapped with a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Pascal Wehrlein at Portier, a penalty that he’ll still have to serve if he ever takes part in another Grand Prix.
Shwartzman has now joined the 44-year-old on their short list of two.
The Ferrari junior, who has been continually overlooked for Formula 1 promotion and now 25 it’s unlikely to ever happen, was given a five-place grid penalty by the Mexican Grand Prix stewards for overtaking under yellow flags.
Shwartzman was in action for Sauber during FP1 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and overtook Yuki Tsunoda under double-waved yellow flags.
Found guilty of breaching Appendix H, Article 2.5.5 b) of the International Sporting Code, the stewards rules that “following the incident at T9 Shwartzman passed a single waved yellow, and a double yellow flag before overtaking Tsunoda in the yellow zone while traveling at speed.”
They punished him for that with a “drop of 5 grid positions for the next race in which the driver participates.
“The penalty is the usual penalty for passing under a double yellow, and while the Stewards recognise that the driver is not scheduled to start the race, they have applied the consistent penalty.”
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The yellows were out for Alex Albon and Oliver Bearman’s crash, which became a red flag.
Shwartzman was happy that both drivers were okay.
“First of all, I’m always grateful to get time running in a Formula One car and to work closely with the team so a big thanks to Ferrari and Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber for another great opportunity,” he said.
“Going into the session today we had specific targets in terms of collecting data and running through as much testing as possible, but unfortunately, red flags interrupted our run plan and cut the session short.
“The crash happened right in front of me as I was on a push lap and I’m just glad everyone involved is okay. The car felt good overall and it’s great working with the team, so it was a positive experience.”
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