Source: Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited

F1 News

Sirotkin agrees with penalty for pushing off Hartley

Sirotkin agrees with penalty for pushing off Hartley

17-09-2018 07:58
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Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

Sergey Sirotkin has accepted the penalty he was dealt during the Singapore Grand Prix, almost forcing Brendon Hartley into the wall, but he does explain he didn't intend to squeeze the Kiwi.

Sirotkin had been involved in an earlier accident, but he wasn't the aggressor. Sergio Pérez, who had been trying to get past the Russian ever since his early pit stop, couldn't overtake the rookie. He got visibly frustrated, even though Sirotkin was simply defending very well, and when Pérez eventually did get past, he rammed Sirotkin's car in an attempt to close the door. 

Parts went flying off of the Williams, handicapping Sirotkin for the rest of the race. A drive-through penalty was given to the Mexican.

“[There] was quite a big damage to the front part of my car, the flaps and bargeboards were properly damaged for me," Sirotkin told PlanetF1.

“Also the aero parts were moving throughout the lap, from corner to corner.

“After the point of the race it was just a case of survival.”

In a later stage of the race, Hartley had a run on Sirotkin, but the Russian locked up heading into turn 15, almost forcing Hartley (and himself) into the wall. It didn't happen, but it was a clear cut-off, and he got penalized for it, which he accepts.

“In the contact with Brendon, I didn’t know it until after the race and I wasn’t really fighting.

“I was kind of protecting my position under braking with my car completely damaged.

“I lost the car under braking and at that point I was just trying not to hit the wall.

“I understood was Brendon on the outside and I think he was waiting if I ended up in the wall or not - if you look at my onboard I was very close to park it there.

“It’s fair I got the penalty for it because I blocked him, but it was not because I wanted to fight him.”