Manor's Esteban Ocon will start the Brazilian Grand Prix from last place on the grid, after the race stewards adjudged him to have impeded Renault's Jolyon Palmer during Q1 on Saturday.
Ocon qualified P20, a place behind team-mate Pascal Wehrlein with the pair split by just +0.005. However the stewards handed down a three-place grid penalty, meaning Ocon drops to last place on the grid, promoting both Sauber cars a position each.
The stewards claimed Ocon blocked Palmer at Turn 4 during qualifying, forcing the Briton to take evasive action.
Palmer did however make it through to Q2 to eventually qualify P16
"At the end of the Q1 session, the driver of car 31 (Ocon) was on a slow lap having aborted his lap previously, while the driver of car 30 (Palmer) was on a fast lap.
"Entering the braking area of Turn 4, Ocon stayed on the racing line at the moment when Palmer was approaching, forcing Palmer off the racing line. At that time, Ocon was on the radio with his team, who did not inform him of the approaching car.
"When Ocon did see Palmer, he moved as far as possible to the right to avoid a dangerous situation, but the stewards concluded these were not mitigating factors, and that Ocon clearly impeded Palmer."
Ocon was also handed two penalty points on his license, bringing his current total to four points.
Discussion about this post