Lewis Hamilton has been given a 10-place grid penalty for the French Grand Prix as a result of the crash that took out his McLaren and Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari during the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The punishment was handed out by FIA race stewards after they reviewed the incident in which Hamilton ran into the back of Raikkonen as the Ferrari driver was observing a red light in the pit lane on lap 18 of the race, which was eventually won by Robert Kubica.
Nico Rosberg of Williams was given the same 10-place drop on the grid after he ran into the back of Hamilton's McLaren Mercedes in the same incident.
Hamilton trails BMW Sauber's Kubica by four points in the world drivers' championship and will now face an even stiffer battle for points at Magny-Cours in two weeks' time.
The punishment capped a disastrous series of events at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Englishman as his dream return to Montreal went sour.
Hamilton had sealed his maiden Formula One victory in this race 12 months previously and had secured pole position this year with an exhilarating drive in qualifying on Saturday.
He started Sunday's race in imperious form, rattling off fastest laps to build up a lead of six-plus seconds over Kubica.
Having qualified on pole, Hamilton had warned of the influence the race safety car could have in Montreal. He had battled to a wire-to-wire victory in Canada last year after the safety car intervened four times to cut his lead and bring back the rest of the field following an incident-packed race that saw Kubica endure an horrendous crash.
And so it proved once more when the safety car was deployed after Adrian Sutil span out in his Force India on the 13th lap.
When the pit lane opened after 18 laps, all the leading contenders went in for their first fuel stops. McLaren were running Hamilton on a one-stop strategy and his longer refuel saw him emerge behind both Raikonnen and Kubica.
He followed them as they vied for the lead only for them to be stopped by a red light at the end of the pit lane.
The new leaders came to a halt side by side only for Hamilton to career into the back of the Ferrari of Raikkonen, forcing them both out of the race. Rosberg went into the back of Hamilton but managed to continue racing.
"I saw the two guys in front of me battling in the pit lane and I was trying to make sure I didn't get involved but then they stopped," Hamilton said.
"I saw the red light but it was too late. It's not a racing incident but I think it is unfortunate.
"It is a lot different if you crash into the wall and you are angry with yourself.
"I apologise to Kimi if I ruined his race. I would rather neither of us be out. I was so quick I was breezing it."
Kubica was in an ideal position to see Raikkonen's demise at the hands of Hamilton.
"We all pitted together and the red light was still on at the end of the pit lane," he said.
"I saw Kimi side by side with me.
"Then I just heard a big shunt and saw Kimi's moving and realised it was Lewis. He was over Kimi's rear wing.
"I just kept concentrating waited for the green light and managed to pull away well."
Cheekily, Kubica even thanked Hamilton for helping him achieve his maiden grand prix victory.
"I have to thank him that he shunts Kimi not me," the Pole said.
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