Lotus racer Conor Daly found himself on the receiving end of a ten-place grid penalty for the opening GP3 race of the weekend at Valencia today.
The penalty – for the initial collision with Dmitry Suranovich at Monaco – certainly marks itself as a rather odd decision, especially considering the length of time since the incident (four weeks) and eventually crash that red flagged the race.
Aggressive and forthright in his attack, Daly rode over the rear of Suranovich, as the Russian defended hard, blocked, weaved and backed into the American. Taking both sides into account, it could have been classed as a racing incident.
The clash – which occurred at Loews on lap 9 – may have removed Suranovich’s rear wing; however it is arguable that it was the Russian driver’s lack of etiquette played a significant part in the accident.
The most serious crash – which came two laps later at the Nouvelle chicane – sent Daly airborne and into the catch-fencing, narrowly avoiding the marshal post.
Meanwhile, Suranovich was excluded from the results – a pointless exercise (literally) considering he was classified in 11th spot and outside the points.
Essentially, the Russian has escaped without punishment – a dreadfully poor example to give when one considers the accident could have resulted in the deaths of up to six people.
