Santino Ferrucci will miss the next two rounds of the FIA Formula 2 championship at the Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps after stewards banned him from competing following incidents during Sunday’s Sprint race at Silverstone.
The American was found to have deliberately made contact with Trident team-mate Arjun Maini after the end of the race, with the front wing of his car making contact with the right rear wheel of the Indian racer’s Dallara, with the offence in breach of sporting regulations.
Ferrucci was summoned to the stewards following the race but declined the request, and was slapped with the two-round, four-race ban and a fine of €60,000.
The American was also disqualified from the results of the Sprint race, in which he finished fourteenth, after being deemed to have deliberately forced Maini off the road at turn four. Again he failed to appear for the hearing, and he was handed the second penalty.
In what was a very bad day for the Haas F1 Team-affiliated, he was also fined a further €6,000 for a few other smaller offences, having been observed to have transitioned ‘from the support paddock to the race pitlane wearing just one glove and holding a phone in his hand’.
It was deemed that Ferrucci was in violation of both the Technical and Sporting Regulations for incorrect driver safety equipment and the prohibition of wireless transmission devices within the car.
No decision has been made to who will race for Trident in the next two races, and with the team putting their backing into Maini, it is unclear whether or not Ferrucci will be back with them for the round in Italy.
Trident intends to show their solidarity and support to @ArjunMaini_ and his family, for the unsportsmanlike and above all uncivilized behavior that he was forced to endure not only during this last weekend by Santino Ferrucci and father, who accompanied him. https://t.co/Z78SjIjXXH
— Trident Team (@trident_team) July 8, 2018
The contractual implications of what has happened will be dealt with by our lawyers. Never in these 12 years of sporting activity has anything even close to this ever occurred. We apologize for the show that we have regretfully offered.
— Trident Team (@trident_team) July 8, 2018
Ferrucci’s Haas employers are also going to be looking into the incident, with Guenther Steiner confirming an investigation will take place.
“I’m aware of the incident, I’ve seen it once on TV when they showed the race,” Steiner is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “I didn’t really realise, I didn’t hear the audio, but I was made aware that there are some problems.
“I said I’m not gonna deal with them today, because we have a race to go to. I’m gonna deal with them in the week so I will get more information. I’m aware something happened but at the moment I don’t have enough information to comment on it.”