Jules Bianchi's nightmare GP2 season has taken another hit after the Frenchman was one of four drivers given 10-place grid penalties for the sprint race in Valencia.
ART driver Bianchi retired from the race at the start following a high-speed collision with Marcus Ericsson. Race officials deemed that the incident was Bianchi's fault after he swerved across from the outside of the track into the path of Ericsson in the sweeping first corner.
Fabio Leimer has also been penalized for causing an accident at the start. The Rapax driver ran into Alvaro Parente under braking for Turn 2, having clumsily bounced over the curbs on the inside of the corner.
Luca Filippi was deemed at fault for clipping the back of Dani Clos as the pair squabbled down one of the street circuit's long straights. The Italian damaged the front of his car as he tried to find a way past Clos, who was able to continue to finish fourth.
As the three drivers above all retired from the race, the grid penalties handed out make little or no difference to their starting positions for Sunday. However, the fourth driver penalized, Pal Varhaug, will drop from 13th to 23rd due to his part in a collision with Fairuz Fauzy.