F1 News: FIA hit Imola qualifying star with BIG penalty

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Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

FIA hit Imola qualifying star with BIG penalty

Oscar Piastri will no longer start from the front row of the grid

Chris Deeley

Saturday 18 May 2024 23:20

Oscar Piastri has been hit with a three-place grid penalty for Sunday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, after being found guilty of impeding another driver during qualifying.

The Australian was in blistering form in the Saturday afternoon session, setting the second fastest time of the weekend to put his McLaren alongside Max Verstappen on the front row, but this ruling will drop him down to fifth and promote his team-mate Lando Norris to second.

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Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will be the other two drivers to benefit, filling the second row after a pair of decent performances in their upgraded Ferraris.

The decision came for an incident in Q1 which saw Piastri fail to get out the way of Kevin Magnussen's Haas, having been given - as the decision statement worded it - a lack of sufficient warning by his team that a car on a fast lap was approaching.

Piastri and Norris challenged Max Verstappen at Imola

Magnussen has been on the other side of the stewards in 2024

FIA: Piastri's team didn't want him until too late

"Piastri was exiting the pits and Magnussen was on his fast lap. Piastri impeded Magnussen at the chicane at Turns 2 and 3.

"The Stewards accepted the explanation of Piastri that because of the layout of the circuit at that location, he could not see Magnussen until it was too late, at which time he tried to accelerate away in order to get clear of Magnussen as quickly as possible. Magnussen acknowledged that it was difficult for drivers to see cars behind in many portions of the track, including here.

"However, the Stewards reviewed the team radio and Piastri’s team did not warn him of the much faster approaching car until Magnussen was too close for Piastri to do anything to safely avoid impeding. In fact there was an approximately 140km/h speed differential and Magnussen was only approximately 40-50m behind at the time and this meant that Piastri was in the middle of the chicane when Magnussen caught up directly behind Piastri. Further, it was clear that Magnussen was on a fast lap since his exit of Turn 19."

Max Verstappen Ferrari Lando Norris Charles Leclerc FIA Carlos Sainz