Vergne penalized following his collision with Gutiérrez
Jean-Eric Vergne received a 20-second penalty following the United States Grand Prix due to his collision with Esteban Gutiérrez as the track officials deemed him responsible for the incident.
Jean-Eric Vergne clipped Esteban Gutiérrez’s Sauber in the final hectometers of the United States Grand Prix. The action was investigated by FIA stewards after the race, and the Toro Rosso driver was penalized for causing a collision.
The statement released specifies that Vergne violated article 16.1 of the FIA sporting regulations, represented this weekend by driver steward Nigel Mansell as well as Paul Gutjahr, Jose Abed, and Tim Mayer.
Vergne thus received a 20-second penalty – equivalent to a drive-through – which was added to his finishing time. The Frenchman had crossed the line in 12th position just behind his teammate Daniel Ricciardo but officially finished in 16th place due to this penalty. This doesn’t change much for Vergne since he was out of the points anyway.
This allows Massa, Gutiérrez, di Resta, and Kovalainen to gain an additional place in the hierarchy, but it’s anecdotal in terms of points scored following this race in Austin as none of them were in the top 10.
