F3: Barnicoat penalized for causing pile-up

Formula 3 rookie Ben Barnicoat will get a five-place grid penalty for the final race of the F3 European Championship opener at Paul Ricard after triggering race two's first-corner pile-up.

Barnicoat's Hitech Grand Prix car crashed into first-race winner Lance Stroll at Turn 1, with Stroll collecting Joel Eriksson, while Maximilian Gunther and Harrison Newey collided to their outside. All except Eriksson were forced out of the race, and the penalty will relegate Barnicoat from sixth to 11th on the grid.

Barnicoat, who took rookie honors in the first race of the weekend, said: "It was tight. Lance made a better start so he got ahead and he moved to the left [the outside], and that opened a bit of a door up.

"But he started moving back to the right, so I went to cut across the corner to avoid an incident – with the rain making the paint wet, I slid and I was out of control."

Barnicoat, a leading contender in last season's Formula Renault Eurocup, was also given two penalty points on his license.

"The stewards said it wasn't really my fault, but I did wipe four people out so I've got to respect the decision," he added.

In other penalty news, Arjun Maini was forced to start the second race last after picking up a single 10-place grid penalty for an engine change following race one.

The T-Sport-run Indian had picked up a plastic bag in a duct, causing overheating to his Tomei-built ThreeBond powerplant.

Originally on Autosport.com