Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley has been issued a time penalty following the 19th race of the 2018 Formula 1 season, the Mexican Grand Prix.
Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley originally finished the 19th race of the 21-race 2018 Formula 1 season, the Mexican Grand Prix, in 12th place, two laps off the lead. However, following the race, he was issued a five-second time penalty, which worsened his result.
Hartley was issued this penalty as a result of the fact that he caused a collision with Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon, who finished the race in 11th place.
As a result, the five-second time penalty that the 28-year-old Kiwi was issued ended up not affecting Ocon’s finishing position. This penalty ended up demoting Hartley from a 12th to 14th place.
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As a result, Williams Martini Racing teammates Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin, who originally finished the 71-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.674-mile (4.304-kilometer) Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico in 13th and 14th place, respectively, were promoted to 12th and 13th, respectively.
Because of the fact that the finishing positions of only three drivers were affected by Hartley’s penalty and none of these three drivers originally scored any points in the race prior to the penalty being issued to Hartley and none of them ended up scoring any points as a result of this penalty, this penalty did not cause any changes to the driver standings nor the constructor standings.
Hartley, Stroll and Sirotkin are the three drivers who occupy the bottom three positions in the driver standings while Toro Rosso and Williams are the two teams that occupy the bottom two positions in the constructor standings.
Hartley currently sits in 19th place in the standings with four points on three top 10 finishes so far this season while Stroll sits in 18th in the standings with six points on just two top 10 finishes so far in 2018. With just one 10th place finish so far in his rookie season, Sirotkin has earned just one point and sits in 20th (last) in the standings.
Meanwhile, Toro Rosso just lost eighth place in the constructor standings to Alfa Romeo Sauber in the Mexican Grand Prix. Sauber have earned 36 points so far this season while Toro Rosso have earned 33, but Toro Rosso entered the race leading the Swiss team by four points (32 to 28). Meanwhile, Williams have pretty much solidified 10th (last) in the standings for the season, as they have earned just seven points so far in 2018.
Will Brendon Hartley rebound from this penalty and secure his fourth top 10 finish of the 2018 Formula 1 season in the next race on the schedule, the Brazilian Grand Prix? If not, will he do so in the season finale, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix? These races are scheduled to take place on Sunday, November 11 and Sunday, November 25, respectively, so be sure not to miss them.