Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel has been handed a 10-place grid penalty for next weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix following an incident in Sunday’s Australian race. Vettel collided with BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica during the latter stages in Melbourne as the Polish driver attempted to overtake him.
“Sebastian went wide in corner one and then he braked early,” said Kubica.
“I was already in front, but he didn’t want to let me by.
“Then he had a lot of understeer and touched me.
“My front wing was under the car, therefore I crashed in corner 5.
“We both had a great weekend up to this point and we leave Melbourne with nothing.”
Vettel apologised to both his Red Bull team and BMW after the crash.
“I had a stupid racing accident with Robert,” he said.
“I tried to defend and, up to the mid-corner, I had reason, but then I had no grip to avoid a collision.”
Both Vettel’s and Kubica’s cars sustained substantial front-end damage in the collision.
As a result the stewards have additionally fined him - and Red Bull Racing - US$50,000 for continuing to drive a damaged car.
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