Lance Stroll hit with grid penalty after Ocon Sprint collision
Lance Stroll's weekend has been hit with a punishment by the stewards.
Lance Stroll has been handed a five-place grid penalty after his Sprint collision with Esteban Ocon at the Circuit of The Americas.
The Aston Martin driver looked to make a move on the Haas at Turn 1, but ran in too deep on entry and caused both to retire from Saturday’s Sprint.
Lance Stroll handed double punishment for US GP Sprint collision
Stroll was challenging Ocon just outside the top 10 in Saturday’s 19-lap race, but appeared to try a move from too far behind the French driver and made contact, with both drivers suffering damage to be fixed before qualifying.
The Canadian appeared to gesture in apology to Ocon out of his car, raising a hand as he went by during an attempt in vain to keep his Sprint going.
Now, the FIA stewards have handed him a five-place grid penalty to be added after qualifying, along with two penalty points to be added to his Super Licence, taking his tally to seven in the last 12-month period.
More from the US Grand Prix weekend
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
👉 US Grand Prix: Verstappen wins Sprint as pile-up claims both McLarens
Having visited the stewards, their verdict read: “Car 18 [Stroll] attempted an inside overtake on Car 31 [Ocon] into Turn 1 but misjudged the braking point and collided with Car 31.
“The Stewards determine that the driver of Car 18 is wholly at fault and apply a penalty accordingly. As the driver to be penalized did not finish the race a grid penalty equalling a 10 seconds time penalty is imposed.”
Bearman avoids penalty points after 10-second punishment
Ocon’s Haas teammate, Oliver Bearman, was handed a 10-second time penalty during Saturday’s Sprint, after running off-track to maintain his advantage over Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes.
This dropped the Briton from a points-paying position to 15th and last come the chequered flag, with Max Verstappen having taken victory at the chequered flag under Safety Car conditions.
Given the nature of Bearman’s transgression, penalty points are not usually handed to drivers to leave the track and gain a lasting advantage. This is good news for the rookie, as his 10 points place him just two away from being handed a race ban.
Bearman will have the rest of the weekend in Austin, as well as next weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, to navigate before any penalty points expire.
Read next: Zak Brown blasts ‘amateur hour’ Hulkenberg as Norris and Piastri collide
