Gutierrez contact penalty drops Vergne to 16th

2013 United States Grand Prix

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Jean-Eric Vergne has been moved down four places in the finishing order for the United States Grand Prix after receiving a penalty.

The stewards held Vergne responsible for a collision with Esteban Gutierrez on the final lap of the race and handed him a drive-through penalty. This was applied by adding 20 seconds to his race time, dropping him from 12th to 16th place.

His penalty moves Felipe Massa up to 12th place and Gutierrez to 13th. Heikki Kovalainen inherits 14th ahead of Paul di Resta.

However Vergne blamed Gutierrez for the collision, which sent the Sauber driver spinning off the track.

“On the last lap, I tried to pass my team-mate at turn one, and it didn’t work and we ran wide, but I think he had used a bit of KERS on the straight so I couldn’t pass him.

“I used all my KERS on the next straight to try and outbrake him but then Gutierrez clipped my rear wheel at turn 12 and he tried to pass me and we touched.”

2013 United States Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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16 comments on “Gutierrez contact penalty drops Vergne to 16th”

  1. As a fan of Guttierez, this couldn’t be more wrong.
    Vernge was on the receiving end of a last minute pass.

    Sometimes I wonder about the stewarding in F1…

    1. I was under the impression, from the only replay I saw of the incident, that Gutierrez stayed wide as if Vergne wasn’t there. I may be wrong, but I think Gutierrez had what he deserved.

  2. What a stupid penalty, Vergne gave Gutierrez room then Gutierrez drives into the side of Vergne, how is this Vergne’s fault? Is the new rule that you have to give another driver a mile of room on the inside so they won’t crash into you, and if they do crash into you then you get penalised.

    1. Thats how it works.. Its F1 racing, you know? ;-(

      1. Still a joke, the collision reminded me of Schumacher and Montoya in Malaysia 2002, that was a ridculous penalty also.

    2. +1 billion.

      Really FIA. Now, as FOM didn’t show us proper camera angles I can’t judge too much, but at least I would’ve said a racing incident, if not a Gutierrez penalty. It seems as if the stewards have taken a leaf out of Codemasters’ book.

      Like I said on the DOTW article:

      I think Gutierrez is awful. He has been nowhere all season, while his team-mate has had fourths. Today was just the icing on the cake really. Disgraceful.

  3. Ridiculous penalty, Vergne gave him more than enough space. Gut went in there way too hot, simple as

  4. Stupid penalty.

  5. Stupid penalty, if anything Gutierrez was to blame. Not that it matters anyway since no points were scored regardless of the penalty.

  6. Wrong wrong wrong. Gutierrez took an optimistic dive and left him nowhere to go, crazy decision.

  7. Stupid driver, Vergne. Hes rubbish. Not only a whiner(watch the interviews where he complains RIC only lucked into the RBR drive), but crashed into gutierrez needlessly for zero points.

    Esteban had the corner, perfectly side by side, and Vergne wasnt anywhere near the track limits, didnt even give him any space. Gutierrez’ move might have been opportunistic, but he caught Vergne going slow and napping, and Vergne just tried to drive through him like a foolish idiot. Cant wait for them to Scott Speed him out of there.

  8. I agree with the penalty. Guiterrez had the corner, but Vergne insisted on turning in on him. Clear cut penalty to me.

  9. Has codemasters F1 2013 become the new guideline for the stewards? So codemasters has made the penalty system reaslistic.

    1. Exactly my thoughts!!

  10. What I saw was Vergne move one way to block, then the other way to block. That was why the penalty was issued. If the defending car goes left, it cant then move to the right if the attacker goes that way.

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