Kimi Raikkonen has been penalised by the Formula 1 stewards for his last-lap clash with Sebastian Vettel at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The Alfa Romeo driver gets a drivethrough penalty converted into a 20s time addition and two penalty points on his licence, taking him up to six for the current period. Though the time penalty initially made no difference to his 16th-place finish, ironically he ended up gaining one place from 15th-placed Nicholas Latifi being penalised 30s for not heeding the yellow flags for this crash.
Vettel had drawn alongside Raikkonen for 12th place out of Turn 4 as they battled to pass George Russell’s Williams at the end of the race, but wheel-to-wheel contact fired Vettel back across the track and into the gravel.
Aston Martin driver Vettel put it down to a “misunderstanding”, while Raikkonen was initially confused by how the incident occurred, saying before he’d had chance to watch a replay that all he knew was “the wheels touched and off we went”.
Eight drivers were summoned over alleged yellow flag breaches in the aftermath of the collision, with only Nikita Mazepin and Latifi penalised.
The stewards also probed Russell’s conduct in his fight with Raikkonen, but decided there was no need to penalise the Williams driver.
They had considered whether Russell’s defence of 11th had involved dangerous movements in the braking area for Turn 4.
But their conclusion was that he “kept the steering straight and left one car width at the entrance to Turn 4. The stewards were happy that the movement was not dangerous or erratic and accepted the explanation of the driver”.
