Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll both found "fully to blame" for causing collisions on wet Lap 1 of Hungarian GP; Bottas crashed into Lando Norris, with Red Bull's Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen also taken out, while Stroll shunted into Charles Leclerc
Sunday 1 August 2021 19:45, UK
Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll have both been handed five-place grid penalties for the next F1 race in Belgium after causing collisions at the start of Sunday's chaotic Hungarian GP.
In wet first-lap conditions in Budapest, Bottas and Stroll both shunted into rival cars after misjudging the braking point into Turn 1.
Bottas, after a poor start from second, ran into the back of Lando Norris' McLaren, with that mistake then taking out the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen. Only Verstappen from that quartet managed to continue in the race.
Stroll, meanwhile, crashed heavily into Ferrari's Charles Leclerc down the inside, ending both their afternoons.
Both Bottas and Stroll were found to be "fully to blame" for the collision by stewards, who - while taking the track conditions "into consideration" - handed the duo five-place grid penalties for the Belgian GP on August 29, the next F1 race after the upcoming summer break.
The drivers were also handed two penalty points on their license, taking Bottas' total to four in the last 12 months, and Stroll's to six.
Norris, Perez and Verstappen were all critical of Bottas after the race, while Sky F1's Nico Rosberg admitted: "Given how many drivers he took out, even more than five grid places would have been an OK penalty as well."
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff apologised to Red Bull for the crash - the second Mercedes-Red Bull collision in two races -while Valtteri Bottas also said sorry to the other drivers involved.
"It felt like they broke quite early but I was the one behind and the one responsible for hitting Lando, and that meant he took people off in front of him," said Bottas. "It's not great for me and not great for others."
More to follow...