Romain Grosjean has been given the first penalty points on his licence following his collision with Adrian Sutil in the Russian Grand Prix.
Grosjean and Sutil made contact at turn two which knocked the Sauber driver into a spin.
The stewards ruled Grosjean “did not leave enough space” for Sutil which caused the collision. They handed him a five-second time penalty for the contact plus two penalty points.
Grosjean said he was already braking as much as he could for the corner when Sutil tried to pass him.
“He was on the softer tyres and had a lot more grip than me going into [turn three],” said Grosjean.
“That corner closes up a bit on exit and he didn’t want to go too much off the racing line. I was already on the maximum for the braking zone and we just touched a little.
“It felt more like a racing incident to me but never mind, we head to Austin and hope for better things.”
2014 Russian Grand Prix
Image © Lotus/LAT
Robert (@gicu)
12th October 2014, 15:21
I have to agree with everything Romain said. This was a really weird penalty, never mind penalty points.
Stefanauss (@stefanauss)
12th October 2014, 15:24
Seriously?
It feels like He have to pay just for nearly daring to put the FIA in the position to deploy a safety car so soon after the last call.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
12th October 2014, 15:29
Don’t really think this is fair. It’s not like Grosjean could simply vanish, where was he meant to go?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
14th October 2014, 1:35
I think it is Romain’s fault but I feel like the punishment is a hard way to set a standard.
Thomas (@tthwaite)
12th October 2014, 15:42
It seemed as though Sutil could have run slightly wide on the exit without putting all four wheels off the track, therefore avoiding contact and still making the pass stick. I feel sorry for Grosjean as I didn’t think his driving was in any way clumsy or that he could have done more to avoid contact.
Luca Nuvolari (@nuvolari71)
12th October 2014, 15:45
That is ridiculous. To give a penalty for that is killing the sport
hey (@hey)
12th October 2014, 15:49
The 5-second penalty was debatable, but 2 penalty is points is ridiculous. “If you do that 6 times in a year, Roman, we will have no choice but to ban you from a race.” Do what?
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
12th October 2014, 15:57
Just when we thought they’d completely forgotten about these penalty points…
Here’s some completely unjustified points for a simple racing incident that you already got penalised for during the race.
BasCB (@bascb)
12th October 2014, 16:07
I thought Brundle called this rightly – racing incident. Quite a tough one to hand penalties for it but giving both a time penalty and 2 points on top is really questionable.
Neil (@neilosjames)
12th October 2014, 16:10
It’s a corner which provokes results like that (similar to the first chicane at Monza). I can perhaps accept that he maybe deserved a little wrist-slap penalty (5 seconds), but giving him points is a bit too much.
FullSpe3d (@dryyoshi)
12th October 2014, 16:15
So much for the lenient punishments…
Matthew Coyne
12th October 2014, 16:35
The interesting one for me was Rosberg on Bottas. He clearly left Bottas with nowhere to go forcing him to take to the run off to avoid a collision – we saw Magnusson penalised for similar things, I don’t agree that it should have been a penalty but in the interests of consistency based on the penalties handed out for similar things it should have been.
Bill Niehoff (@justafan)
13th October 2014, 16:55
+1
wificats (@wificats)
12th October 2014, 17:08
This only adds to the injustice perpetrated on Romain during the race. Maybe they were trying to mirror the injustices that pervade all other aspects of Putin’s Russia.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
12th October 2014, 17:27
How much more straightforward would Formula 1 be without Sutil…?
Strontium (@strontium)
12th October 2014, 19:28
Yeah I’m pretty sure he’s been involved in about a quarter of non-Maldonado crashes and spins this year.
Pete (@repete86)
13th October 2014, 16:29
He hasn’t glassed anyone yet, so there’s that.
Jordi Casademunt (@casjo)
12th October 2014, 17:48
Honestly, that was ridiculous.
Grosjean did leave enough room on the outside of the corner for Sutil. Rosberg on the other hand, keft absolutely no room for Bottas, but just because Bottas actually has the common sense not to turn into a car that’s there, Rosberg doesn’t get a penalty.
That’s punishing the results, and not the actions.
Francorchamps (@francorchamps17)
12th October 2014, 17:49
Rosberg ends Hamilton race (“to prove a point”) = 0 penalty points
Racing incident = 2 points
I love consistency.
Strontium (@strontium)
12th October 2014, 19:26
5 second penalty was ridiculously unfair for what was clearly a racing incident, but to give 2 points in addition is just wrong. Honestly..
George (@george)
12th October 2014, 19:31
I can see why they gave the 5 second penalty. Sutil was trying to stay on the road so he didn’t have to give the place back and Grosjean ran in a bit hot (probably not expecting Sutil to make it around the outside), but the penalty points are unwarranted. It’s a very risky move to overtake around the outside, so Sutil holds some responsibility for the contact in my opinion.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
12th October 2014, 22:09
Why does Grosjean get a penalty when Rosberg did exactly the same thing on Bottas and he wasn’t even investigated.
Although in that case Bottas opted out of risking a crash, but still the infraction should be the same no matter if a crash is the result.
Hairs (@hairs)
12th October 2014, 22:11
I don’t know about the severity of the punishment but Grosjean had clearly lost the place, Sutil was very much ahead, and Grosjean just continued driving into the wheels of a car that was directly in front of him.
Not that I’ve much positive to say about Sutil either.
Hazel Layden
12th October 2014, 22:26
Once again Stewards not being consistent and far too harsh on certain drivers. Any of the leading contenders would not have been given this penalty. This was clearly a racing incident,penalty totally undeserved
dan
12th October 2014, 22:33
Makes no penalty for Ros at Spa look a joke unlike Gro, Ros wrecked someone’s race
Pete (@repete86)
13th October 2014, 14:55
I’m glad that the FIA is finally making a stand on racing. No one should be allowed to race anymore. The next time someone tries to race an opponent, they will be banned.
Themotie
14th October 2014, 21:40
Romain left Sutil a lot more room than Rosberg left Bottas. Difference was Bottas chose to go off the track so they wouldn’t touch. And Romain gets a penalty. Right.
PJA (@pja)
15th October 2014, 13:34
Considering the apparent change to let drivers race more and some other decisions this season this does seem very harsh. I thought it was a racing incident and wouldn’t even warrant any investigation by the stewards