Lloyd and Robertson penalised following Austin Opening Race

Following the conclusion of the F1 ACADEMY Opening Race in Austin, Ella Lloyd and Rachel Robertson have received penalties.

Firstly, Lloyd has been handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Ava Dobson at the exit of Turn 10.

The Stewards determined that Dobson was wide exiting Turn 9, which allowed the McLaren driver to get alongside on the outside of Turn 10. Lloyd moved to the left after the corner exit, as Dobson held her line and started to move left away from the #20 car at the contact point.

Therefore, the Briton was held wholly to blame for the incident. As a result of the penalty, Lloyd drops from P14 to P16 in the final classification.

Secondly, Robertson has been awarded a three-place grid drop for colliding with Rafaela Ferreira. The PUMA driver attempted an overtake on Ferreira on the outside of Turn 4 but did not succeed. Both cars went wide on the exit, with the Racing Bulls driver being slightly ahead of Robertson, who was off-track as they entered Turn 5. Instead of abandoning the corner and cutting the apex, the #56 car followed the track edge and was unable to negotiate the turn, making contact with and spinning Ferreira. Meanwhile, Robertson subsequently retired from the race.

The Stewards determined that Robertson was not entitled to additional room on the inside of Turn 5, having been behind at the preceeding corner. As a result, she was deemed predominantly responsible for the collision. However, there were migitating circumstances as the incident occured on the opening lap in close conditions with other card, and therefore, Robertson could not disappear without leaving the track and rejoining downstream.

Consequently, Robertson will now line up in P13 instead of P10 for the Reverse Grid Race on Saturday.