Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsSauber

Ericsson hit with grid drop for blocking Hulkenberg

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Marcus Ericsson has been handed a three-place grid penalty for blocking Nico Hulkenberg during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.

The Sauber driver was pictured ahead of Hulkenberg entering Parabolica during Q1, with the German complaining over team radio that he had been impeded. The FIA investigated the incident after qualifying and handed Ericsson a three-place grid penalty.

Ericsson had originally qualified in tenth place after an impressive performance in Q2, but the penalty will drop him down to 12th position. The FIA applies grid penalties without moving drivers up a position until all penalties have been applied, leaving gaps on the grid.

The three-place penalty demotes Ericsson to 13th place, but with Carlos Sainz dropping 25 places from an original 13th due to his own grid penalty, Ericsson drops in to a vacant slot and then benefits when Pastor Maldonado and Felipe Nasr ahead of him are promoted a position as the final grid is closed up.

Ericsson also received two penalty points for the incident, which leaves him with seven in the last 12 months. If a driver reaches 12 penalty points within a year he will be handed an automatic one-race ban.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.