Gutierrez collects penalty for taking out Sutil

2013 Chinese Grand Prix

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Esteban Gutierrez has been penalised for crashing into Adrian Sutil during the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Sauber driver has been given a five-place penalty for the next race in Bahrain.

Gutierrez hit the Force India at the turn 14 hairpin during the race, causing both to retire. The stewards report said Gutierrez “admitted he had misjudged the closing speed on car 15”.

He apologised to Sutil and Force India after the race: “Right before going into the long straight I had Checo (Perez) fighting behind me, and I approached the corner too fast.”

“I was braking at the same place where I usually brake, however, didn’t anticipate the loss of downforce and the amount of speed I had. I tried my best to stop, but didn’t succeed. It was definitely my fault, and I apologise to Adrian and to his team.”

Sutil said he had no alternative but to retire: “Things were going well in the opening laps and then under braking for the final hairpin I got hit from behind as I turned into the corner.”

“I guess Gutierrez missed his braking point and had nowhere to go but into the back of my car. My rear wing was broken and there was no option but to stop. It’s always a shame not to finish a race and I had a good chance of scoring more points today.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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32 comments on “Gutierrez collects penalty for taking out Sutil”

  1. It’s not been the most impressive start to his Formula 1 career, I have to admit.

    1. You make it sound like you were expecting him to be scoring points already. Ok he messed up today but even Schumacher was still bulldozing into the back of drivers after 18 seasons of driving in the sport. Esteban needs time, yes he’s a pay driver but he also proved in GP2 he does deserve at least one shot at the top.

      1. I don’t think that’s really a fair comparison and Gutierrez’ 2012 GP2 season was far from great!

      2. @ Dave f1 , trust me this guy aint great , is rookie teammate James Calado was far more impressive in GP2. 3 races aint a lot but he as shown me nothing so far his teammate went into q3 and Gut was out in 1st qualifying says it all for me really.

    2. He deserves a shot but up to now he has had the worst record of all 22 drivers, this season.

  2. Well he’s a rookie for a reason but still that was a stupid incident.

    1. @force-maikel Schumacher did the same thing enough times…

      1. @george

        And it was just as stupid when he did it.

      2. Schumacher also lost some reaction time over the years don’t you think? That got clearer with every incident over the last years.

  3. Where would have Sutil finished had he not crashed? in points ?

    1. Around the same as di Resta, most likely… Give or take a position.
      So 7th-9th, perhaps.
      Catching Massa may not have been possible for 6th.

    2. If I had to guess I’d say just ahead of Di Resta. They are usually close in the races and Sutil was ahead of his teammate before the incident.

    3. I watch German RTL this season and they had an interview with Sutil during the race. What struck me was his change of expression when asked about DiResta wheelbanging with him: he seemed angrier at DiResta than at Guttierez.

      1. Some healthy in team rivalry, nothing wrong with that, as long as they keep it clean after this eye opener.

  4. It Hasn’t been the best start for Gutierrez’s F1 Career and this penalty will most likely see him starting the Bahrain Grand Prix almost at the back of the grid. He’s lucky he has a large financial backing.

  5. I suggest a swap, Gutierrez goes to RB and Sauber takes on Mark Webber!

    1. I’d say bring on Frijns after some practice sessions!

  6. Somehow I just saw something like this coming.

  7. Five-place penalty for such a huge incident is a bit less.
    Not that it’ll make too much of a difference, whether five or ten..

    1. Schumacher got the same when he ran into the back of … (was it an STR?) in Singapore last year

      1. It was the toro Rosso of Vergne.

        I thought he got a ten place penalty?

      2. He got 5 places for the first collision with Senna in Spain, then 10 in Singapore.

  8. I’m really not impressed by Gutierrez so far. He obviously shows the “downs” of a rookie, but not really the “ups” of inpulsive pure driving. He’s been quite anonymous so far. I can’t see him beat Hulkenberg at all this year. Not at merit anyway.

  9. No further action taken over DRS infringements, maybe because of the telemetry issues

  10. Schumacher at last year’s Singapore GP was given a 10-place grid penalty for doing the exact same thing: braking too late and crashing into another driver. Can anyone explain to me why Gutierrez was penalised less severely than Schumacher?

    1. Because that wasn’t the first time he’d done it in the season. He ran into the back of Senna in Barcelona and got a five place penalty for Monaco, which if you remember is what cost him his pole. Second time he made that mistake in Singapore he correctly got a harsher penalty.

      1. I guess that makes sense

  11. Robin Frijns may have something to do this season after all…

  12. Rookie mistake, simple as that, and he admitted it too.

    On the whole though, the rookie class has been good at finishing races…just not in the points.

    1. Bianchi is the only real revelation so far imo, although Bottas seems right there when it comes to his team mate.

      1. And Bianchi will struggle to pick up a point this season unless there’s a race like Monaco ’96 that happens this year – because Marussia doesn’t quite have the car to get him there on his talent alone. Yet.

  13. Where is Webber’s penalty for taking out Vergne? To me it was horribly mis-judged but as its a torro roso I guess we had better not kick up a fuss eh?

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