United States GP: Sergio Perez gets Brazil penalty for Sutil crash

Force India's Sergio Perez has been handed a seven-place grid penalty at the next race in Brazil for causing a crash in Sunday's US Grand Prix.

On lap one the Mexican rammed Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari and then smashed into Adrian Sutil's Sauber, taking himself and Sutil out of the race.

It was the second incident for which Perez has been punished this year.

He was given a five-place penalty for causing a high-speed crash with Williams's Felipe Massa in Canada.

Perez, who is still awaiting confirmation that he will be retained by Force India in 2015, said: "What happened is really unfortunate. I made a move on Adrian at Turn 15 when he left the door open, so I went up the inside.

"Then Adrian started to close the door and I had to try and brake later than him.

"By doing so I was unable to avoid contact with Kimi, which caused me to make contact with Adrian also. I just didn't expect Kimi to be in that position.

"It's a big shame because I had a great chance to keep up my run of points finishes and I was determined to do well in such an important race."

The stewards judged Perez "could not reasonably have expected to complete the manoeuvre. His collision with [Sutil] was reckless."

United States GP race results