Gabriel Bortoleto given five-place grid penalty for Qatar GP after Lance Stroll crash
23rd November 2025Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto has been given a five-place grid drop for the Qatar Grand Prix after he caused a collision at the Las Vegas Grand Prix with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Feature image credit: Stake F1 Kick Sauber MediaHub
In the final two races of the season under the Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber branding, before they move to Audi in 2026, the team will have to serve a five-place grid penalty for their rookie driver, Bortoleto.
At the start of the Las Vegas race, there was a first-lap melee in the mid-pack as Bortoleto collided with Stroll in the opening corner.
It was revealed that the Brazilian had brake ‘extremely late,’ according to the Stewards, down the inside of turn one. As the Sauber driver could not slow down enough, he inevitably collided with Stroll, who was navigating the opening corner.
With terminal damage to his car, Stroll retired on the opening lap and the Brazilian soon retired afterwards.
The Stewards confirmed it would have been a 10-second penalty for the incident but as Bortoleto couldn’t serve his penalty before he retired, they have given him a grid drop for the next race: Qatar, next weekend.
In their report, the Stewards released identical documents rel said:
“The driver of Car 5 [Bortoleto] braked extremely late and as a result collided with Car 18 [Stroll].
“Even though this was a Lap 1 Turn 1 incident, mitigating circumstances do not exist and hence the standard 10 second penalty would have applied.
“However, as Car 5 retired, the penalty is converted into a grid penalty for the next Race in which the driver participates, in accordance with our guidelines.”
Additionally, the stewards also slapped Bortoleto with two penalty points on his super licence, bringing him up to two across 12 months. It marks his first set of penalty points on his once-clean super licence.
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
