Chilton handed grid penalty for Bianchi crash

2014 Canadian Grand Prix

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Max Chilton has been given a three-place grid penalty for the next race after he was judged to be responsible for a crash which eliminated both Marussias from the race.

Chilton ran wide into team mate Jules Bianchi at turn three on the first lap of the race, firing his team mate into the wall at turn four, causing heavy damage to the car.

After the collision Chilton came to a stop a few hundred metres down the road with broken suspension. He described it as “a disappointing end to a really promising weekend”.

Neither driver took responsibility for the crash. “The incident between myself and Jules obviously ended not only our own races but also the team’s, so it’s sad for all the guys after making such progress again,” said Chilton.

2014 Canadian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
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23 comments on “Chilton handed grid penalty for Bianchi crash”

  1. When was the last time a driver got a penalty for taking out his own teammate? I can’t remember.

    1. @kingshark

      Neither can I. What a complete idiot that Chilton. Even going so far to say it was Bianchi’s fault that he couldn’t make the corner. A clear case of Maldonadoesia.

    2. Neither can I now, but I recall last year in WTCC Lada fired Dudukalo after he crashed into his teammate in the first round of the year(in Monza at the end of the pit straight). That was a very stupid mistake by him, especially as it was in practice if I remember it right.

  2. Any thoughts now, Chilton?

    Marussia’s Max Chilton on his first-lap crash with team-mate Jules Bianchi: “I am not happy. I had a mega start on turns one and two and we were side-by-side into three. I was a half, three-quarters down on the inside and braked when I knew I could get through the corner.

    “To my surprise he braked even later and turned in. I feel really sorry for the team because it looks like there has been a lot of damage to the two cars but there wasn’t a lot I could have done. I was not going to back out of it just because he is my team-mate.”

  3. Looked like Chilton’s car swapped ends as he was too hot for the corner, nothing Bianchi could do. Feel a bit sorry for Chilton too as his streak comes to an end, but more sorry for Bianchi who did nothing wrong.

  4. I love how Chilton thought this was Bianchi’s fault, or at least not his own.

    Hopefully now he’s lost his 100% record people (none from here thankfully, just those in the media… Mostly UK media) can stop harping on about how much of a ‘good job’ he’s doing.

  5. I realise how Max is behaving like Maldonado by always blaming others. He clearly lost the car and rammed into Jules.

    Penalty is a harsh one though. A racing incident.

    1. At what point did Chilton blame anyone?

      1. “To my surprise he braked even later and turned in”. HTH.

        Couldn’t he just say it was his fault ?

        1. N J (@jewishjarvis)
          8th June 2014, 23:25

          I couldn’t believe when he said this. He said he left him room, but ‘still, Bianchi turned in’.
          What does he bleeding expect on a bleeding corner for god sake?

          1. “To my surprise, despite him still being ahead, he took the outside line, while I committed to him getting out of the way and giving me the whole corner for being alongside and in front of his rear right tyre” – basically similar to passes at the Monaco chicane that Perez was pulling off last year.

        2. That is a description of events as they unfolded. Call me weird, but a simple description of events doesn’t automatically imply blame.

          1. @raceprouk
            He was basically saying there was no way Bianchi could make the corner because he (Chilton) was on the limit. This is completely ignoring the fact that Bianchi was perfectly fine driving all the way around the outside while he (Chilton) lost control and crashed into him.

      2. Ben (@scuderia29)
        8th June 2014, 23:26

        @raceprouk he definitely did blame bianchi in the interview i watched lol

    2. Dion (@infinitygc)
      8th June 2014, 23:27

      Now that you mention it, he did get away with a quite large amount of incidents involving him and van der Garde last year, which might’ve given him the impression that things are simply never his fault.

      1. Hahaha you reminded me of “Chilton, that idiot, what is he doing?!”

  6. I had the impression Bianchi was already on the grass, trying to avoid contact when Chilton slammed into him.

  7. This is where I dont understand the stewards.
    I guess they believe 3 place or 5 place won’t make a difference.
    Ridiculous, there should be consistency.

  8. The team must be (silently) cursing Max considering how the race panned out they could have grabbed another potentially valuable 11th place – Sauber might grab just 2 points this year so countback could be important. Last race Max’s incident ended up giving his team-mate the opportunity to grab 2 points, someone should have pointed out it doesn’t work if the person you hit is your team-mate!

    1. Maybe this is why they are now courting Leimer..

  9. I think they should add 3 penalty points on there too. What a stupid and horrific crash.

  10. Chilton is welcomed to a club of Maldonado-Perez-Grosjean. I am not so sure, though, maybe he is replacing Romain? When the French had his last crash?

  11. It looked like a simple, perhaps foolish, mistake. It was disappointing to see Bianchi’s race finish and Chilton’s record interrupted.

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