Formula 1: Romain Grosjean issued 3-spot grid penalty for Bahrain Grand Prix

Romain Grosjean qualified for the second race of the 2019 Formula 1 season, the Bahrain Grand Prix, in eighth place. But he has since been issued a three-position grid penalty.

Rich Energy Haas’ Romain Grosjean has been issued a three-position grid penalty for second race on the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 schedule, the Bahrain Grand Prix, at Bahrain International Circuit.

The 32-year-old Frenchman originally qualified his Ferrari-powered car in eighth place by recording a top lap time of 89.015 seconds (136.009 miles per hour) around the 15-turn, 3.363-mile (5.412-kilometer) Bahrain International Circuit road course in Sakhir, Bahrain in the third and final round of qualifying for the race.

But after the qualifying session ended, he and McLaren rookie Lando Norris were summoned to the race stewards, where Grosjean was issued this three-position penalty for impeding Norris during qualifying.

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Grosjean, who explained to the stewards that he had just been passed by Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and was simply reacting to that, was going slowly on the racing line when Norris approached him near turn 15 while on a flying lap.

As a result, Norris had to slow down to avoid hitting Grosjean, thus causing him to lose time at the end of his lap.

Both Grosjean and Norris still ended up advancing to the third and final round of qualifying for the race despite this incident.

Here is what the stewards had to say about why Grosjean was issued this penalty, according to RACER.

"“The driver of car 8 (Grosjean) stated that he was about to commence a push lap when he was overtaken by car 5 (Vettel) and thus slowed significantly to maintain a sufficient gap. He was not advised by the team of the rapid approach of car 4 (Norris), which was on a push lap. The speed differential was 136 km/h at the point where car 4 had to take avoiding action.“The Stewards accept that the driver of car 8 did not intentionally intend to impede; however it is the driver’s responsibility to be aware, when traveling abnormally slowly, that faster cars may be approaching.”"

As a result, Grosjean is set to start the race on the sixth row in 11th place. He is set to start alongside Scuderia Toro Rosso rookie Alexander Albon, who qualified in 12th.

Meanwhile, Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen, Norris and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, who originally qualified in ninth, 10th and 11th place, are set to start the race in eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively.

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Will Romain Grosjean rebound from this three-position grid penalty? The Bahrain Grand Prix is scheduled to air live on ESPN2 from Bahrain International Circuit beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET tomorrow, so be sure not to miss the second race of the 2019 Formula 1 season.

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