Vergne, Kobayashi handed penalties

Sunday 24th June 2012

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Vergne, Kobayashi handed penalties

Vergne, Kobayashi handed penalties

Jean-Eric Vergne has been hit with a 10-place gird drop for the British GP while Kamui Kobayashi will also be demoted.

Toro Rosso driver Vergne was hit with the penalty as well as a €25,000 fine for causing an avoidable accident during the European Grand Prix.

The Frenchman drove into the back of Heikki Kovalainen during the early stages of the race. Although Kovalainen was able to continue after some repair work in the pits, Vergne had to retire from the race.

The stewards deemed the incident so serious that they slapped Vergne with two penalties.

"In view of the serious nature of the incident the Stewards have decided under Article 18.1 to apply two penalties," a statement read.

Article 18.1 of the sporting rules states: "The stewards may inflict the penalties specifically set out in these Sporting Regulations in addition to or instead of any other penalties available to them under the Code."

Vergne was quick to apologise to Kovalainen on Twitter after the race, saying: 'All my apologies to @H_Kovalainen, rookie, not rookie, just my mistake and will learn from it...'

Kobayashi,meanwhile, has been hit with a five-place grid penalty following his collision with Felipe Massa.

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