Grosjean slapped with Monaco GP grid penalty for Spain clash

Romain Grosjean has been hit with a three-place grid penalty for the Monaco Grand Prix for causing the heavy collision on the first lap of the Spanish race which took out Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly.

The Haas driver appeared to be unsettled at turn three on the opening lap by teammate Kevin Magnussen’s brief slide which caused him into a similar slide. Instead of running off track, the French driver attempted to counter his slide by turning back into the track which caused him to spin on to the racing line and collide with Renault’s Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso’s Gasly which saw all three instantly out of the Spanish Grand Prix.

The FIA race Stewards pinned the blame on Grosjean and have handed him a three-place grid penalty of the next race in Monaco in two weeks time.

“The driver stated to the Stewards that he made the decision to cross the track, trying to avoid the other cars and that he felt this was his best option,” the Stewards notice on the incident stated. “The Stewards found that while it is speculation as to where the driver’s car would have ended up had he chosen other alternatives, it is certain that while crossing the track in front of the following pack of cars, which he chose to do, that a collision occurred.

“Further, in reviewing the video, the Stewards found that the car was following the line on the left side of the track and was almost fully off the track, when he made the decision to cross it.”

Grosjean has also picked up two penalty points for the incident which increases his total to five over the past 12 months. If any F1 driver picks up 12 penalty points over a 12 month period they are given an automatic one-race ban.