Liam Lawson has missed out on scoring his first points of a difficult F1 season after being penalised for sending Fernando Alonso crashing out of the Miami sprint.
Lawson brought home his Racing Bulls in seventh position at the end of a chaotic 18-lap race that was hit with heavy rain before the start, and which accounted for Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari on his way to the grid after he aquaplaned into a wall.
After a 24-minute delay following a red flag, as two formation laps indicated the conditions were unsafe to race, a drying track led to a switch from intermediates to slicks over the second half.
On lap 14, with Lawson hounding Alonso, the New Zealander clipped the back of the Aston Martin out of the slow Turn 12. That sent the two-time F1 champion into a spin and a wall, wrecking his car.
Following an investigation, the stewards have imposed a five-second time penalty on Lawson, which drops him to P13 and he also picks up one penalty point for the collision - taking him to six for the 12 month period.
"Car 30 was attempting an overtake on the outside of Car 14 into Turn 11. Although being able to pull fully alongside, the front axle of Car 30 was not ahead of the front axle of Car 14 at the apex as required per the Driving Standards Guidelines," read the FIA statement.
"Therefore, Car 30 was not entitled to be given room at the exit. Due to the layout of the track, the car which has the right to the racing line in Turn 11 also has the right to the racing line in Turn 12.
Car 30 drove to the very edge of the track between Turns 11 and 12 and collided with Car 14 on the approach to Turn 12. The Stewards determined that Car 30 was predominantly at fault and therefore consider a 5-second penalty to be appropriate taking into account the track conditions."
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