Grosjean penalized three places and one point on his F1 license

Romain Grosjean will start 11th in the Bahrain Grand Prix in his Haas after a penalty for blocking Lando Norris in qualifying.

Published on 30/03/2019 à 19:25

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Grosjean penalized three places and one point on his F1 license

Not successful at the Australian Grand Prix despite a sixth fastest time in practice, Romain Grosjean (Haas) continues to go through difficulties at the start of the 2019 season. The Frenchman received a penalty of three places on the starting grid in Bahrain on Saturday March 30 and a withdrawal of one point from his license.

The Haas driver was found guilty of obstructing Lando Norris (McLaren) during the first phase of qualifying, when the Briton was about to finish his flying lap.

Grosjean–Norris #F1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/ePLc6uADUv

— NicoleNinaF1 (@NicoleNinaF1) March 30, 2019

Placed under investigation by the commissioners of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), Romain Grosjean was interviewed by the college alongside Lando Norris. “Romain Grosjean explained that he was going to start his attack lap when he was overtaken by Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), and therefore slowed down significantly to create a gap, explains the FIA press release. The video below shows the Ferrari overtaking and the Frenchman slowing down, until his engineer warns him of the arrival of Lando Norris, too late:

FLAŞ! Haas pilotu Grosjean, McLaren'in genç sürücüsü Norris'i engellediği gerekçesiyle gridde 3 sıra geriye düşme cezası aldı!

Yarışa 8.sıradan başlaması gereken Grosjean 11.cepten start alacak.

Olayın video:

#BahrainGP #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/E6zOA22tCk

—Tutkumuz F1 (@ F1tutkumuz) March 30, 2019

He was not informed of the arrival of Lando Norris. The speed difference was 136 km/h when Lando Norris had to avoid Romain Grosjean. The commissioners accept that Romain Grosjean did not intend to interfere, but it is the driver's responsibility to be aware that faster cars are approaching when driving abnormally slowly », concludes the press release. Romain Grosjean will therefore start 11th.

In addition, Romain Grosjean was penalized with one point on his F1 license, which means the total points withdrawn at 8 over a 12 month period. He only has four left before exclusion from a Grand Prix.