Official: Romain Grosjean penalized following the accident in Spain

The first lap of the Spanish Grand Prix was heavily disrupted by Romain Grosjean’s maneuver. The Haas driver lost control of his car in turn 3 and attempted to recover his mistake by rejoining the track right in the middle of the pack.

Without success, this attempt to recover automatically eliminated the party directly concerned, the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly and the Renault of Nico Hülkenberg, who could not avoid the collision with the Haas planted in the middle of the track.

Judged responsible for this collision and the chaos in the first round, Grosjean was consequently penalized with a 3-place grid penalty for the Monaco Grand Prix to be held in fifteen days: « The driver stated to the Stewards that he decided to cross the track, trying to avoid other cars, and he believed it was his best option. The Stewards considered that, even though it’s speculative to question where the driver’s car would have ended up if he had chosen other alternatives, it is certain that by crossing the track in front of the pack of cars, which he chose to do, a collision occurred. Furthermore, upon reviewing the video, the Stewards assessed that the car was following its trajectory on the left side of the track and was almost completely off the circuit when he made the decision to cross it. The Stewards consequently chose to penalize the driver. » announced the stewards in a statement in the evening.

The French driver therefore inherits a three-place grid penalty for the start in Monaco, on a circuit where grid position is essential for the course of the race.