The stewards delivered a stinging verdict on Nikita Mazepin’s driving as they gave him four penalty points and a 15-place grid penalty for causing today’s F2 crash.

The ART driver has been given a 15-place grid drop for the next round of the championship, in Abu Dhabi.

Mazepin collided with Jack Aitken in the run-off area after both went wide at turn two on the first lap. The impact sent Mazepin’s car into the side of Nobuharu Matsushita, who then had a eavy impact with the barrier.

Both drivers were taken to hospital, hough neither has any serious injuries. As a result Mazepin was unable to attend the hearing.

After speaking to Aitken and examining footage of the incident, the stewards held Mazepin responsible for the collision.

“Having considered the matter extensively, the stewards determined that car 01 [Louis Deletraz] arrived at the entrance of turn two at an excessively high rate of speed and unable to negotiate the corner on the track. Car 03 [Mazepin] then forced car 15 [Aitken] off the track.

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“After both cars left the track, car 15 successfully negotiated the Styrofoam blocks in the runoff area, as directed by the race director’s notes. Car 03 did not follow that same directed path, thereby short cutting the runoff area, resulting in a collision with first car 15 and then car 02 [Matsushita], resulting in car 02’s retirement and causing a red flag in the race.

“Car 03 is judged wholly at fault for the incident.”

In addition to his penalty, Mazepin was given four penalty points on his licence, putting him on a total of five.

“Because, in the opinion of the stewards, the driver of Car 03 caused this incident by a total lack of due care for his fellow drivers and caused a bad incident that could have been much worse, the unusually large number of grid positions in the penalty and the large number of penalty points are assessed,” the stewards added.

In another incident Mahaveer Raghunathan, who has already served a one-event ban this year, was given another penalty point for failing to rejoin the track correctly at turn two. He is now on nine penalty points, three away from earning a second ban.

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Formula Two