Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been handed a three-place grid penalty for the Formula 1 British Grand Prix after his first-lap clash with Max Verstappen in Austria.
The Mercedes rookie took out the Dutchman at Turn 3, locking up in an attempt to gain position, and in the process, punted the Red Bull, as well as himself, out of contention.
The Italian, who had started ninth, was looking to quickly make ground on cars in front of him, but instead, undid the momentum gained from his Canada podium in the previous race.
“I didn’t necessarily brake too late, it’s just that when I braked, I braked hard because I was behind other cars, and in that moment I locked the rears,” Antonelli explained afterwards.
Verstappen, despite being the big victim in the incident, showed no hard feelings towards Antonelli, saying that “every driver makes mistakes”.
He also backed Antonelli, who he described as “a big talent,” to bounce back, adding “[if] he learns from that, and that’s all fine.”
However, the stewards did not look kindly on Antonelli’s role in the clash, and has imposed the penalty to be taken at next week’s race at Silverstone.
“The driver of Car 12 locked up the rear brakes into Turn 3 and collided with Car 1,” the stewards’ report read. “In the hearing the driver admitted that he made a mistake as he locked up the rear wheels while using his regular braking point, but also pointed out that he needed to avoid a collision with Car 30 in front of him and released the brakes for a short period of time to do so.
“Taking evasive action led to the car having less grip on the dirty inside line and therefore he was not able to decelerate the car in a way to avoid the collision with Car 1.
“The Stewards determine that, although the incident happened in Lap 1, no other cars influenced the incident and the driver of Car 12 is fully at fault.
“Therefore the more lenient approach to judging Lap 1 incidents has not been applied in this case. However, they also acknowledge that the incident was not a blatant attempt to dive into the corner but rather a result of the evasive action after locking up.
“As the driver was not able to continue the race a grid drop for the next race is applied.”
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