Formula 1: The other driver already penalized for next race

In addition to Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll has already been issued a pre-race penalty ahead of the Formula 1 race at Spa in four weeks.

After causing a multi-car pileup involving McLaren’s Lando Norris and Red Bull teammates Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in the first turn on the opening lap of Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was promptly informed that he had been issued a five-position grid penalty for the next race on the Formula 1 schedule.

This race, the Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, is the first race after the current summer break. Bottas can start no higher than sixth place as a result of this penalty, and he will probably start lower. He has just one career front row start in eight attempts at the track, with that being a second place start there last year.

But another driver was given the exact same penalty for causing a similar incident at the exact same time, though it wasn’t exactly publicized as much since it didn’t have as big of an effect on the outcome of the race, nor did it involve a championship contender.

That driver is Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who plowed into the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and ended the race prematurely for both drivers.

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For the 44-lap race around the 19-turn, 4.352-mile (7.004-kilometer) road course in Stavelot, Belgium at the end of the month, Stroll can also start no higher than sixth place, though it is expected that he will end up starting quite a bit farther back in the Aston Martin than Bottas in the Mercedes. In four starts at the track, his best qualifying effort is ninth.

Leclerc responded to the incident, though this penalty won’t exactly help him resurrect what could very well have been a podium finish. He also lost sixth place in the driver standings to teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., who did manage to finish on the podium in third thanks to the post-race disqualification of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.

Fortunately for Leclerc, Ferrari actually moved up into a third place tie in the constructor standings with Sainz’s third place effort and McLaren’s scoreless race.

So that makes two five-place grid penalties already issued for a race that is still four weeks away.

The Belgian Grand Prix is set to be broadcast live on ESPN from Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, August 29.