Grid penalties for Pic and Bianchi

The new rule regarding a driver clocking up three reprimands over the course of the season is now beginning to show an affect.

In Korea, Red Bull’s Mark Webber became the first high profile casualty of the rule.

The Australian was handed a reprimand following the incident at the end of the Singapore Grand Prix with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

Webber waved down both Kimi Raikkonen and Alonso in search for a lift back to the pits, but the manner in which they did it was deemed unsafe by the stewards.

Video footage showed that both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg both came close to crashing into the back of Alonso’s parked Ferrari, whilst Rosberg came close to actually hitting Webber as he attempted to jump on the side of Alonso’s Ferrari.

Both drivers were given a reprimand and with it being Webber’s third of the season he was handed an automatic ten-place grid penalty in Korea.

In Japan two further drivers who have received three reprimands this seasons will also be given the same punishment.

Caterham’s Charles Pic and Marussia’s Jules Bianchi in fact both earned two reprimands over the cause of the weekend in Korea to earn their ten-place grid penalties.

Pic failed to visit the weighbridge during Friday practice, before failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags during the race. Whilst Bianchi held up Paul Di Resta during qualifying before also failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags during the race.

As Pic was penalised first he will take his penalty first, which is likely to alter how the drivers line up at the back of the grid in Japan.

Incidentally Pic and Bianchi’s Caterham and Marussia team-mates Max Chilton and Giedo van der Garde were also given their first reprimands of the season for speeding behind the safety car.