Yvan Muller given suspended penalty

Yvan Muller has been given a two race suspended penalty for his contact with Alain Menu in race one at Monza, which took his team-mate out of the race.

Yvan’s penalty has been assessed in accordance with Article 42 of the Sporting Regulations, where a driver has been deemed to have ’caused a collision’, and the stewards have enacted the penalties available to them under Article 44 c.) which is a drop of ten positions on the grid for the subsequent race if Muller repeats the offence at either of the next two rounds of the championship.

Muller was fighting with Menu and believed he saw an opportunity to pass on the final lap, as he’d previously stated:

“Unfortunately at the end at the second chicane he (Menu) went off the corner a bit slower than me, I try of course inside but he closed the door and we had a small contact. Not big, but big enough.”

See earlier story for Menu’s views on the incident here

Muller also made contact with his other Chevrolet team-mate Rob Huff in race two, but Rob was able to hold on to the car and continue on take the win. Huff later admitted himself he probably surprised Muller by braking early for the Parabolica due to dirt on his tyres.

Muller’s penalty means he will need to be cautious not to repeat the same kind of transgression at the races in Hungary and Czech in June.