Renault driver Vitaly Petrov has received a grid penalty for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix in two weeks time, after being found to have caused his collision with Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher during the Korean Grand Prix.
Petrov made race-ending contact with Schumacher's Mercedes on lap 16, when he careered into the back of the German driver while fighting for position with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.The impact broke Petrov's steering, and also eliminated Schumacher from the race with a broken rear wing.
And after the race, the stewards imposed a five-place grid penalty on the Russian, finding him to have breached Article 16.1 of the Sporting Regulations, specifically for "causing a collision" with a rival.
The penalty will apply to the Russian for the Indian Grand Prix in two weeks time, while the reprimand will remain on his record.
Under the FIA's new rules, any driver picking up three reprimands in a season will collect a grid penalty for the next race on the calendar.
Petrov was also reprimanded by the FIA, using the new rules from Korea onwards that allow the governing body to apply reprimands under the 'three strikes' system even when a driver has already been punished by the stewards.
After the race, Petrov admitted that the crash had been completely his own fault.
"I tried to defend my position from Fernando but I was in the braking zone on the dirty side of the track which meant I locked my wheels and hit Michael," the Russian mused after the race.
"I was focused on my battle with Fernando as there was potential for me to be ahead of him. We both braked too late as he missed the corner too."
He added: I apologise to Michael, it was not his fault, it was absolutely my fault - once my wheels were locked there was nothing I could do about it. But that's racing and tomorrow is another day."
The penalty caps off another poor weekend for Renault, with Bruno Senna only managing 13th in the sister car.
"It was far from the best race I've had," the Brazilian muttered glumly, "I got a bad start, and from then on it was always going to be an uphill battle. Being stuck behind a number of other cars again restricted my ability to get points today.
"I don't feel there were any specific weaknesses in my car itself but I was just unable to progress much from where I was.
"We will now see what we can do to better the situation, and come out all guns blazing in India. That's a culture I've not experienced before and a race I'm looking forward to."
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