Daniil Kvyat has edged closer to a race ban after being handed a grid drop and a penalty point on his license for impeding Lance Stroll during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Toro Rosso driver complained during Q1 that his team warned him too late of the approaching Stroll, taking to the grass to get out of his way.
The impeding incident took place at Turn 11, with Stroll on a hot lap, attempting to escape the Q1 drop zone.
Stroll was eventually eliminated in Q1, with Kvyat going on to set the 13th fastest time and drop out of qualifying in the second segment.
However, he has been handed a three-place grid drop for blocking Stroll, as well as one penalty point – increasing his tally to 10, when the total (over a 12-month period) for a race ban is 12.
The statement from the stewards said:
“The stewards examined video, driver radio communications, timing data, telemetry and car positioning data evidence and heard from Daniil Kvyat, Lance Stroll and the team representatives.
“The stewards determined that Kvyat was on an exceptionally slow lap having spun earlier and damaged his tyres. The stewards acknowledged that he was warned by the team very late of the approach of Stroll who was on a fast lap.
“Further, Kvyat pulled as far to the right as he could as soon as he saw Stroll. However, the stewards considered that these were not mitigating factors.
“Kvyat was driving exceptionally slowly and taking the racing line at the end of Q1 when other drivers were attempting to set fast laps and this led to the unnecessary impeding.”
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