Pastor Maldonado has 𝕴been punished for his part in the accident that sent Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez into a somersault in the closing stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Venezuelan was exiting the pits when he made contact with Gutierrez at turn one, the second-year driver having already turned into the corner. Alth🌞ough the nose of Maldonado's Lotus hit the sidepod of the Sauber, it was a clash of tyres that sent the Mexican 𝓡into a roll, bouncing off his roll hoop before coming to rest on back on his wheels.

Fort🦹unately, neither driver was hurt in the incident - indeed⭕, Maldonado made it to the end of the race after a stop-go penalty - but the stewards took a dim view of the circumstances and decided that further punishment was required.

Having received a report from the race director and examined video evidence, the officials - with the expert eye of Derek Warwick this weekend - decided to impose an additional five-place grid penalty on M❀aldonado for the Chinese Grand Prix later this ♎month, and placed three points on his licence. The points are Maldonado's first of the season, but count towards the twelve maximum he can accrue before a one-race ban is triggered.

After ಌemerging slowly from his wrecked car, Gutierrez was taken to a local hospital for routin🍷e checks but was reported to have escaped injury and should be fit to take part in the next round in Shanghai.

Jules Bianchi also had points applied to his licence - a two-point punishment doubling his tally for the year - after being found guilty of causing a collision with Adrian Sutil at turn one. The Frenchman was able to limp back to the pits with a damaged corner before rejoining, but Sutil's miserable weekend ended on the spot. Again, neither driver was injured ♈in the clash.