Carlos Sainz will drop three places for the start of the Canadian Grand Prix after impeding Pierre Gasly during qualifying.
At the end of Q1, Gasly was completing his final hot lap before being forced into the run-off area to avoid making contact with Sainz.
Gasly was eliminated in Q1 while Sainz advanced into the final segment, ending the session in eighth place.
However, the penalty now means that he drops back to 11th, promoting Oscar Piastri, Alexander Albon and Charles Leclerc up the order.
In his meeting with the stewards, Sainz stated that he was previously hindered by the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda.
However, the stewards still placed the blame on the Spaniard.
“The driver of Car 55 [Sainz] stated that he was surprised that the driver of Car 22 [Tsunoda] overtook him into Turn 13 and as a result he accelerated late to start his fast lap,” read a statement.
“The driver of Car 10 [Gasly] stated that the driver of Car 55 could have and should have ‘gone earlier’.
“Telemetry showed a significant speed differential between Cars 55 and 10.
“Although the overtaking move by Car 22 took the driver of Car 55 by surprise, it is our determination that the driver of Car 55 was predominantly to blame and unnecessarily impeded Car 10.”
Gasly fumed at Sainz after the session, hitting out at the Ferrari driver’s standards behind the wheel.
“I just think it’s completely unacceptable to be driving the way Carlos did,” he said.
“It’s as simple as that. I’m coming at 300km/h, he’s sitting 30km/h in the last chicane just focusing on his own lap but you’re not alone on the race track.
“First of all I could not even close the lap, that would have put us in the top six easily, and second of all it was extremely dangerous and unnecessary, so just absolutely gutted.”
