03/11/2014
NEWS STORY
Sergio Perez and Jean-Eric Vergne are handed post-race penalties following misdemeanours during United States Grand Prix.
The Mexican has been given a 7-place grid penalty for next weekend's race at Interlagos following his first lap clash with Adrian Sutil.
Having heard from both drivers, team representatives and examined video evidence, the Stewards ruled that in the incident at T16, Perez could not reasonably have expected to complete the manoeuvre and that his collision with Sutil - a Breach of Article 16.1 d) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations - was "reckless".
Consequently he was handed the grid penalty and two penalty points.
For his aggressive move on Romain Grosjean on lap 51, which saw him hit the side of the Lotus forcing it off track, Jean-Eric Vergne was handed a post-race penalty of 5s which meant he dropped from ninth to tenth position, thereby promoting the other Lotus driver, Pastor Maldonado, to ninth in the process.
"The driver of car 25 (Vergne) is considered to be predominantly at fault for the contact with car 8 (Grosjean) in turn 1 and the consequent forcing of car 8 off the track," said the Stewards in their statement.
In addition to the time penalty, Vergne was handed a penalty point, thereby taking his tally for the twelve month period to three.
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