The Spanish Grand Prix stewards have handed Romain Grosjean a three-place grid penalty for the next race on the calendar in Monaco, plus two penalty points following his first-lap spin that triggered a multi-car crash.
Grosjean was behind his Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen as they entered Turn 3 on the opening lap, but took evasive action when Magnussen had a wobble.
That caused the Frenchman to spin into the path of oncoming cars; in the hope of getting out of their way, Grosjean applied the accelerator, causing a huge cloud of tyre smoke, making it nearly impossible for those behind to avoid him.
Renault's Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly ended up colliding with the Haas with all three retiring on the spot.
Although Grosjean believed his decision to accelerate and cross the circuit was the best course of action, the stewards disagreed and therefore chose to apply the aforementioned penalties.
"The Stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from the driver of car 8, Romain Grosjean and the team representative," read a statement.
"Car 8 [Grosjean] was following Car 20 [Magnussen] at the exit of Turn 2 when Car 20 had a momentary loss of control. Car 8 avoided Car 20 which caused him to loose control of the car to the left of the track at the entry to Turn 3.
"The driver explained to the Stewards that he felt that his momentum was going to carry him to the center of the track, and therefore made the decision to apply power in an attempt to cross to the right side of the track and get out of the way of the cars behind. However, while crossing he moved into the line of Cars 27 [Hulkenberg] and Car 10 [Gasly], and all three cars were involved in a collision that took them out of the race.
"The driver stated to the Stewards that he made the decision to cross the track, trying to avoid the other cars and that he felt this was his best option. The Stewards found that while it is speculation as to where the driver’s car would have ended up had he chosen other alternatives, it is certain that while crossing the track in front of the following pack of cars, which he chose to do, that a collision occurred. Further, in reviewing the video, the Stewards found that the car was following the line on the left side of the track and was almost fully off the track, when he made the decision to cross it.
"The Stewards therefore chose to penalise the driver."
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