F1: Gutierrez penalized for Wehrlein incident

Haas driver Esteban Gutierrez has been handed a five-place penalty going into Formula 1 qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

The stewards decided to punish Gutierrez for a blocking incident during the final practice session at Spa Francorchamps that infuriated Manor's Pascal Wehrlein.

An unaware Gutierrez was coasting on the racing line through Raidillon when an at-speed Wehrlein came upon the Mexican and was forced to take to the grass to avoid a collision. An angry Wehrlein let rip over the team radio: "The f***ing idiot! What is he doing?"

In addition to the grid demotion, Gutierrez also receives three penalty points.

He becomes the fourth driver to get a grid penalty at Spa, with Lewis Hamilton (55 places), Fernando Alonso (30) and Marcus Ericsson (10) also going into qualifying poised for demotions thanks to various technical component changes.

The Spa spat is the latest in a run of incidents involving Gutierrez, who was criticised by Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo after the Hungarian and German Grands Prix, respectively, for his ignorance of blue flags. Gutierrez responded in kind to Hamilton, suggesting the reigning champion was disrespectful.

The 25-year-old then sought out Ricciardo for talks after the Australian claimed Gutierrez was not doing as good a job as other drivers in handling blue flags.

Stewards also investigated an incident between Kevin Magnussen and Sebastian Vettel in final practice that had prompted Vettel to rage about the Renault driver over the radio, but decided no further action was required in that case.

Originally on Autosport.com