Alpine Formula One driver Jack Doohan has been hit with a 10-second penalty for making contact with Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto in the last lap of the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race. Doohan has also been handed two penalty points on his Super Licence.
The 19-lap sprint race at the Shanghai International Circuit saw teams suffer from tire wear towards the final stages of the race, courtesy of the fresh asphalt that has enhanced grip levels.
Doohan, in a bid to cover up positions in the last minute, made an attempt to overtake Bortoleto on the inside line of Turn 14 but locked up at the apex and made contact with the Sauber driver. As a result, Doohan lost position and ended up finishing the race last. Speaking to the media after the race, the 22-year-old driver said:
“It didn’t go exactly as planned, but I went for a move on the last lap at Turn 14, it didn’t exactly go to plan.
“I need to have a look into it and see what happened so that it doesn’t happen again and then put our focus to qualifying.”
The FIA stewards, who noted the incident, said in a statement after the race:
“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 7 (Jack Doohan), the driver of Car 5 (Gabriel Bortoleto), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and in-car video evidence and determined as follows.
“DOO attempted to overtake BOR on the inside of turn 14 but locked up at the apex of the corner and collided with BOR. DOO suggested that he was in control of the overtake but the presence of the two Haas cars and the line they took compromised his overtake attempt.
“First, as the car attempting to overtake, the responsibility was on DOO to ensure that it was done in a safe manner and in line with the regulations and the guidelines.
“Secondly, applying the Driving Standards Guidelines, DOO did not have the right to the corner at the apex and should have backed off – here, because of the speed at which he approached the corner for the overtake and the resulting lockup and understeer, a collision was caused, for which DOO was predominantly to blame.”
Doohan’s last-place sprint race finish meant the ten-second penalty didn’t affect him. His teammate Pierre Gasly secured P12. To make amends, Doohan must improve his performance in the Chinese GP qualifying and Sunday’s race.
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