JUNE 24, 2012
Vergne / Maldonado hit with penalties
Jean-Eric Vergne has been fined 25,000 Euros and penalised 10 places on the grid at the forthcoming British GP after causing a collision with Heikki Kovalainen in Valencia.
© The Cahier Archive
By Tony Dodgins
Jean-Eric Vergne has been fined 25,000 Euros and penalised 10 places on the grid at the forthcoming British GP after causing a collision with Heikki Kovalainen in Valencia.
Pastor Maldonado, meanwhile, has had 25s added to his race time for the collision with Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages, robbing him of the lone point for 10th place, which now goes to Williams team mate Bruno Senna.
The Vergne incident happened on lap 26, with debris from the incident bringing out the Safety Car with 30 laps still to run.
Kovalainen labeled the coming-together a "rookie mistake" on the part of Verge, while the Frenchman called it a "racing incident."
The stewards, including Mika Salo as the driver representative, clearly did not agree with Vergne's assessment, their judgment reading: "In view of the serious nature of the incident, the stewards have decided under Article 18.1 to apply two penalties."