Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen has been given a penalty by the race stewards in Austin for causing a collision with Valtteri Bottas on the final lap.
The race stewards came to the same conclusion as the majority of the paddock and that Raikkonen was to blame for the incident. The stewards handed Raikkonen a 30-second time penalty dropping him to eighth from fifth and crowning Mercedes as back-to-back Constructor’s Champions with four races remaining.
Having just passed Sergio Perez for third and fourth, Bottas was leading Raikkonen through the fast left-hander of turn four, but Raikkonen attempted a late move down the inside into turn five. However, he misjudged the gap and collided with Bottas sending his fellow Finn off the track. The Williams car was substantially damaged at the rear and came to a rest against the Techpro barriers and unable to continue.
Raikkonen limped to the finish line into fifth place, but the race stewards immediately announced they were investigating the incident. The collision did, however, promote Sergio Perez to his first podium since Bahrain 2014 and also Massa up to fourth. Kyvat moves up to fifth at his home race as a result of Kimi’s penalty, Nasr sixth and Maldanado seventh.
