Esteban Gutierrez will lose five places on the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix after stewards at Spa-Francorchamps found him guilty of impeding Pascal Wehrlein during final practice on Saturday morning.
The Haas F1 Team driver was cruising at the top of the hill just passed Raidillon, and appeared to be unaware that Wehrlein was approaching at speed behind him, with the Manor Racing driver being forced to take avoiding action across the grass as a result.
Wehrlein was highly critical of Gutierrez on the radio with an x-rated outburst, and both drivers were summoned to the stewards after the conclusion to the session, with Gutierrez also being handed three penalty points on his Superlicence for the incident as well as the grid drop penalty.
Gutierrez had finished twelfth fastest in the final practice session before the qualifying session, while Wehrlein was three places further back in fifteenth.
Stewards also looked at the incident between Renault Sport F1’s Kevin Magnussen and Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, but deemed no further action was necessary as the two got close together on the approach to Blanchimont.
