Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Hitech GP’s Paul Aron has been handed two five-place grid penalties for the next Formula 2 round after incidents with two drivers in the Hungaroring feature race.
On the opening lap, Aron went side-by-side with Prema’s Ollie Bearman at turn four. Bearman was on the outside and had been slightly ahead at the apex and exit of the corner when he had to go off-track due to Aron running wide and going off himself. Stewards deemed Aron fully to blame, and issued a five-place grid penalty and two penalty points.
On lap seven, MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger attempted to pass Maloney at turn one. Behind them, Aron had a better exit of the corner and ran alongside Hauger under braking at turn two but ended up tagging Maloney, who was ahead of them, at the apex. They both spun and retired, and the safety car was required to clear their cars.
Stewards found Aron wholly to blame, and would have handed him a 10-second penalty had he finished the race. But since he retired, that has been converted into a grid penalty for next weekend’s round at Spa-Francorchamps. He was also issued two penalty points for that incident, meaning he now has seven points on his license.
It means that Aron can start no higher than 11th in next weekend’s sprint race, and should he qualify on pole it would mean he starts from 20th on the grid.
AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen got a 10s penalty for going off and gaining an advantage while battling against DAMS’ Juan Manuel Correa, and Trident was fined €1,000 (£842) for having a team guest on the pit wall during the race.