Racing Steps Foundation-backed Ben Barnicoat will take a five-place grid penalty and has received two points on his racing licence for causing the multi-car crash at the opening turn of race two of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship weekend at Paul Ricard on Saturday.
The British Hitech GP driver was found responsible for the incident that took out Prema Powerteam drivers Maximilian Günther and Lance Stroll as well as Van Amersfoort Racing’s Harrison Newey, while Prema’s Ralf Aron and Motopark’s Joel Eriksson were also caught up in the melee but were able to continue.
Barnicoat had been set to start from sixth on the grid for the final race of the weekend on Sunday, but will now slip to eleventh.
“It was tight. Lance made a better start so he got ahead and he moved to the left, and that opened a bit of a door up,” said Barnicoat afterwards.
“But he started moving back to the right, so I went to cut across the corner to avoid an incident – with the rain making the paint wet, I slid and I was out of control.
“The stewards said it wasn’t really my fault, but I did wipe four people out so I’ve got to respect the decision.”
