2019 United States GP: Kvyat’s penalty

Daniil Kvyat was left fuming after receiving a penalty for a crash during the last lap of the USA Grand Prix. Did the Russian driver deserve a penalty? Let’s take a look at the action.

The decision

The decision is very simple. The stewards blamed Kvyat for causing a collision with Racing Point driver, Sergio Pérez. They did note, however, that the car bounced off the kerb, which contributed to the unfortunate accident during the final lap of the race.

The video

In my opinion, the video evidence is quite clear. Sergio was ahead before reaching corner 15, and took the appropriate racing line. It is true that Checo didn’t cover the entire corner, and left enough space for Kvyat to attack though. The issue? Kvyat took an extremely narrow line.

Check the video at the 20 second mark. It is easy to see that there was absolutely no way that Kvyat was making that corner. The turning angle was too acute. At second 21 you can see Kvyat realizing this and turning the steering wheel all the way to the left. Even with the full steering lock, the car had too much speed to remain on the track. The only reason the Russian was able to “make” the corner was due to the crash with Checo.

If anything, Kvyat was extremely lucky that Checo realized that Kvyat was about to crash into him. On second 28, you can see Sergio turning the steering wheel to the right in order to avoid a collision. Without that quick reaction, most likely both drivers would have been out of the race.

Final remarks

I understand Kvyat’s anger for being penalized for the second time in a row. He was happy for taking the last point of the race, before it was taken away by the stewards. Having said that, this decision was the correct one.

There is a major difference between hard racing, and recklessly trying a dive bomb across the corner. There was no way that Kvyat was going to rotate the car across turn 15 with that turning angle and speed.

I hope that you have enjoyed this article. Let me know if the video and analysis makes sense to you. If you have any questions or comments, just let me know in the comments section below.