27/07/2015
NEWS STORY
During a thrilling, incident filled, Hungarian Grand Prix, a number of driver were also busy racking up the penalty points.
First off was Romain Grosjean, who, along with a 5s time penalty, was handed 2 penalty points after being released from his pit stop in an unsafe manner. This brings his total up to 6 points for the 12 month period.
New rules introduced in 2014, mean that drivers who accrue 12 penalty points or more in a twelve month period are automatically banned from the next race.
Then there was teammate Pastor Maldonado. The Venezuelan began his race by colliding with Sergio Perez, thus earning the Lotus driver a drive-through and 2 penalty points.
Shortly after Maldonado was caught speeding in the pitlane and though he received another drive-through there were no penalty points.
The Venezuelan subsequently further blotted his copybook by overtaking Will Stevens before reaching the SC1 line at the end of the safety car period, thereby incurring a 10s penalty but, again, no points.
Whilst Max Verstappen will remember Hungary for his drive to fourth, his best result in a debut season in which he has already surpassed all expectations, he will also remember the 3 penalty points (and drive through) he was hit with after he failed to stay above the required time set by the FIA ECU during the deployment of the safety car.
Thankfully he was not punished for the clash with Valtteri Bottas in T5, the stewards feeling that the youngster took reasonable actions to avoid contact. Nonetheless his current (penalty) points tally is 5.
Lewis Hamilton picked up his first (2) penalty ponts - and a drive-through - for the collision with Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian found not to blame for a later incident involving Nico Rosberg in T1. The German also escaped punishment for the incident.
Daniil Kvyat picked up 2 penalty points - his first ever - and a 10s time penalty for gaining a position after running wide in the late incident involving Hamilton.
Check out our Sunday gallery, here.