Doohan and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto came together just two corners from the flag in Saturday’s 19-lap race in Shanghai.
The pair were scrapping over 18th as they approached the Turn 14 hairpin for the final time.
As Doohan attacked, he locked up and tagged Bortoleto, pitching the Sauber into a spin.
The incident also compromised Nico Hulkenberg in the other Sauber, who was next on the scene, while Carlos Sainz profited three places as a result of the skittled cars.
Doohan was summoned to the stewards following the Sprint where he was handed a 10 second time penalty and given two penalty points on his FIA Super Licence.
“DOO attempted to overtake BOR on the inside of turn 14 but locked up at the apex of the corner and collided with BOR,” the stewards summary noted.
“DOO suggested that he was in control of the overtake but the presence of the two Haas cars and the line they took compromised his overtake attempt.
“First, as the car attempting to overtake, the responsibility was on DOO to ensure that it was done in a safe manner and in line with the regulations and the guidelines.
“Secondly, applying the Driving Standards Guidelines, DOO did not have the right to the corner at the apex and should have backed off – here, because of the speed at which he approached the corner for the overtake and the resulting lockup and understeer, a collision was caused, for which DOO was predominantly to blame.”
As Doohan finished the Sprint 20th, the time penalty has no bearing on the final result.
