The race stewards have shown no mercy in the cases of Valtteri Bottas and Yuki Tsunoda this weekend.
They handed down a three-place grid penalty to the Mercedes of Bottas after FP2 on Friday for dangerous driving in the pit lane.
Yuki Tsunoda then became the latest subject of an investigation after he was seen blocking Bottas, while he was on a flying lap, at Turn 4.
In a statement from the Stewards, they said they understood the rookie had not been told by his team that there was a faster car behind and that Tsunoda did try to move off the racing line, but ultimately he “did impede car #77 unnecessarily”.
“Car 22 [Tsunoda] had just completed a fast lap and had communication from the team that he was now on an in lap. The team did not warn car 22 of the approach of car 77 [Bottas] on a fast lap.
“Car 77 approached Car 22 at the entry to Turn 4. Car 22 was on the racing line and while he attempted to move off the racing line to the outside he did impede car 77 unnecessarily.
“It is the responsibility of every driver to be aware of faster cars when they are on a slow lap.
“The team should have assisted the driver in being aware of the approaching faster car but such lack of communication is not an excuse for the driver,” read the Stewards’ document.”
Tsunoda reacted to the news by simply posting:
😑😑😑😑
— 角田裕毅/Yuki Tsunoda (@yukitsunoda07) June 26, 2021
Ahead of the penalty being issued, Yuki Tsunoda told reporters; “It’s both [mine and the team’s] mistake but to be honest if I change direction and go – went to the inside, was really on the braking zone, I expect also that Valtteri is going to try and overtake me on the inside so it’s very big shunt.
“So there wasn’t really anywhere to go so, that’s why I went straight, and looks like there’s still a gap to be honest. I don’t know, depends on stewards but it’s really difficult, I don’t think I ruined too much his lap to be honest, but we’ll see.”
