On lap 7 of a wet-to-dry race, Alfa Romeo driver Zhou tried to force his way past Latifi in a battle for 18th place when he attempted to pass the Canadian on the outside of Turn 5 .
But Latifi appeared to press Zhou against the wall, the contact between the two men destroying the front right corner of the Alfa Romeo, forcing the Chinese driver to retire on the spot.
Latifi also hit the wall following the collision and as he tried to continue with a new front wing, the Canadian also had to retire under the following safety car.
On team radio, Zhou was livid with Latifi and said the Williams driver had put him in the wall and after the investigation the FIA stewards agreed with that assessment.
In their verdict, the Singapore stewards handed Latifi a five-place grid penalty for next week’s Japanese Grand Prix as well as two penalty points on his license, bringing Latifi’s total to three points from penalty in the last 12 months.
“The Stewards reviewed the video evidence and determined that LAT was primarily responsible for the collision,” the Stewards’ decision read.
“ZHO was trying to pass LAT on a straight on the approach to Turn 5 and had enough space, taking the normal racing line. LAT pulled to the left, leaving ZHO no car width and dragging significant contact between the cars.”
Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C42
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
The Singapore Grand Prix proved a weekend to forget for Williams, with Alex Albon also retiring after contact with the barriers.
It was the first of several incidents in a race that was mostly on intermediates after a rain delay of more than an hour.
A late slick change also surprised AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, while the two Alpine cars of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon retired with suspected power unit failures.
On lap 7 of a wet-to-dry race, Alfa Romeo driver Zhou tried to force his way past Latifi in a battle for 18th place when he attempted to pass the Canadian on the outside of Turn 5 .
But Latifi appeared to press Zhou against the wall, the contact between the two men destroying the front right corner of the Alfa Romeo, forcing the Chinese driver to retire on the spot.
Latifi also hit the wall following the collision and as he tried to continue with a new front wing, the Canadian also had to retire under the following safety car.
On team radio, Zhou was livid with Latifi and said the Williams driver had put him in the wall and after the investigation the FIA stewards agreed with that assessment.
In their verdict, the Singapore stewards handed Latifi a five-place grid penalty for next week’s Japanese Grand Prix as well as two penalty points on his license, bringing Latifi’s total to three points from penalty in the last 12 months.
“The Stewards reviewed the video evidence and determined that LAT was primarily responsible for the collision,” the Stewards’ decision read.
“ZHO was trying to pass LAT on a straight on the approach to Turn 5 and had enough space, taking the normal racing line. LAT pulled to the left, leaving ZHO no car width and dragging significant contact between the cars.”
Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C42
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
The Singapore Grand Prix proved a weekend to forget for Williams, with Alex Albon also retiring after contact with the barriers.
It was the first of several incidents in a race that was mostly on intermediates after a rain delay of more than an hour.
A late slick change also surprised AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, while the two Alpine cars of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon retired with suspected power unit failures.
