Red Bull’s Mark Webber will drop three places on the grid for next weekend’s 2013 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix after stewards penalised him for his collision with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne in Sunday’s Shanghai race. And Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez will be demoted five grid places at Sakhir for his crash with Force India’s Adrian Sutil.
Webber, recovering from his pit-lane start, ran into the side of Vergne’s car as he attempted to pass the Frenchman on lap 15. The Australian was forced to pit with front-wing damage and subsequently retired when the right-rear wheel came away from his RB9. Vergne went on to finish 12th, five places behind team mate Daniel Ricciardo.
“I was coming from a reasonable distance behind, Jean-Eric was really wide, but when we came close to the apex he wanted to hit it, which he is entitled to do, but by then I was committed to the inside and the incident happened,” explained Webber.
“I think Mark could not have got through from where he tried and I’m not even sure if he was trying to pass me,” said Vergne afterwards. “Certainly I didn’t even know he was there. Unfortunately, the impact put me into a spin and the incident damaged my floor. From then I lost a lot of downforce. It was not a good race from then on.”
Gutierrez ran into the back of Sutil at Turn 14 on lap five. The Mexican rookie was out on the spot, the impact having ripped the front-right wheel from his C32. He subsequently admitted he had misjudged his closing speed on Sutil, who was able to limp back to the pits with heavy damage to the rear of his car, before being forced to retire following a small exhaust fire on the VJM06.
“I approached the corner too fast,” said Gutierrez. “I was braking at the same place where I usually brake, however, didn’t anticipate the loss of downforce and the amount of speed I had. I tried my best to stop, but didn’t succeed. It was definitely my fault, and I apologise to Adrian and to his team.”
Gutierrez’s team mate Nico Hulkenberg led the race briefly before ultimately finishing tenth.