Romain Grosjean has been demoted three-places for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, meaning the Haas driver will start from 11th on the grid.
The Frenchman was deemed to have blocked McLaren's Lando Norris during qualifying's opening Q1 session. Norris was on a flying lap when he encountered a slow moving Grosjean on the racing line at the final corner, forcing him to brake hard.
Although Norris progressed through to Q2 and then Q3, qualifying tenth, the stewards noted that Grosjean should have been aware of the approaching car and taken the necessary action to avoid impeding it.
"The Stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from the driver of car 8 (Romain Grosjean) and the driver of car 4 (Lando Norris) and the team representatives," said an FIA statement on the matter.
"The driver of car 8 stated that he was about to commence a push lap when he was overtaken by car 5 and thus slowed significantly to maintain a sufficient gap.
"He was not advised by the team of the rapid approach of car 4, which was on a push lap. The speed differential was 136 km/h at the point where car 4 had to take avoiding action.
"The Stewards accept that the driver of car 8 did not intentionally intend to impede, however it is the driver's responsibility to be aware, when travelling abnormally slowly, that faster cars may be approaching."
Grosjean qualified eighth but will start 11th, promoting Kimi Raikkonen, Norris and Daniel Ricciardo up the order by a single place each.
Speaking in his post session media gathering, Norris expressed sympathy for Grosjean, believing that Vettel's actions left the Frenchman at a disadvantage.
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