As Formula E looks ahead to Round 11 of the 2025/26 championship in Sanya, four drivers enter the weekend with grid penalties - a result of incidents at the Monaco E-Prix.
Lucas di Grassi - the Lola Yamaha ABT driver will serve a 40 place grid penalty, as both his MCU and gearbox were changed after the start of qualifying in Monaco.
The Brazilian driver, who recently announced that he will retire from professional racing at the end of the season, scored points in both Monaco races.
Another driver who acquired a substantial penalty in Monaco was DS PENSKE’s Taylor Barnard, who received a ten-place grid penalty (combined). The British driver was penalised for two separate incidents in Sunday’s race, the first involving Nissan’s Norman Nato and the second with Citroen Racing’s Jean-Eric Vergne.
In the Nato incident, Barnard attempted to overtake the Nissan, but the two cars made contact at Turn 19, resulting in Nato making contact with the wall and subsequently retiring from the race due to damage. Stewards determined that Barnard was wholly at fault as the ‘manoeuvre was not executed in a fully controlled manner’.
The second incident, which happened later in the race, was also determined to be the fault of Barnard. In this case, the 21-year-old Brit was following Vergne into Turn 10 and misjudged his braking, which resulted in contact with the rear of the Citroen - spinning him around.
In a double whammy for DS PENSKE, Barnard’s teammate Maximilian Gunther will also serve a penalty in Sanya.
Gunther will take a three-place grid drop for the E-Prix, after overspeeding under a Full Course Yellow. Although the German driver did initially slow for the caution, he ‘exceeded the speed again for four seconds to 55.7kph’.
The final driver carrying a penalty into Sanya is CUPRA KIRO’s Pepe Marti. On the whole, it was a successful weekend in Monaco for the Spanish driver, after achieving his first Formula E podium in Saturday’s E-Prix.
However, after Sunday’s race, the Spanish-born driver was handed a five-place grid penalty for the next round, after colliding with Nick Cassidy. The incident happened at Turn 18 when both cars were side-by-side - Mart then failing to ‘leave sufficient racing room’ for Cassidy’s Citroen.
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