Sebastian Vettel will now start today’s race in Bahrain from the very last start box as he has now recieved a penalty after yesterday´s Qualifying 1 mishap.
Vettel, who was yesterday the eighteenth fastest in the qualifying, has now got a five-place grid penalty from the race stewards. Competing for the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team, the four-time Formula 1 champion didn’t slow down enough when he entered the first corner of the track with his last time trial attempt.
The yellow flags came out because of Uralkali Haas F1 Team´s Nikita Mazepin spun out on the first turn of the track due to a brake-by-wire failure on his VF-21. The Russian caused the so-called double yellow flags during which the driver must be prepared to stop the car due to avoid danger.
Vettel has also received three penalty points to his Superlicence for the offence. If a driver receives a total of twelve penalty points in a twelve-month, an automatic Grand Prix race ban will result. Vettel didn’t have any points on his account from the past season, so he’s still a long way from not being allowed to take part at a race.
The penalty points have been in use since 2014 and Vettel has grabbed them most of all the drivers on this year´s grid. Over the past years, he has now been recieved twenty-seven penalty points, but not all at once so he has always been lucky to have avoided any race ban.
The penalty allows Mick Schumacher to move up to eighteenth place on the grid for his Grand Prix debut, while Mazepin, who caused the yellow flags in the first place, will move up to nineteenth despite being the slowest driver all weekend long at the Bahrain International Circuit.
