McLaren’s Oscar Piastri has been handed a 3-place grid drop for impeding Kevin Magnussen during the Formula 1 qualifying session in Imola
During Q1, Magnussen encountered Piastri into Turn 2 after launching a flying lap. The Aussie was recharging batteries on a cooldown lap, so it cost Magnussen an aborted attempt to set a decent time to escape from the knockout zone.
After getting into the front row for tomorrow’s race, Piastri and the McLaren team representatives were summoned to the Stewards to discuss the incident, and ultimately the FIA decided to hand Piastri a 3-place-grid drop for “unnecessarily impeding Car 20 (Magnussen).”
The FIA determined that Piastri did not receive any warning on the radio about Magnussen approaching fast, making him unable to escape the incident.
“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 81 (Oscar Piastri), the driver of Car 20 (Kevin Magnussen), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, the team provided telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence,” the FIA explained.
“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.”
Asked about the incident on the post-qualifying Press Conference before visiting the Stewards room, Piastri said he didn’t see anyone in the mirrors.
“I need to see it back a bit more. When I looked in the mirrors, I didn’t see any cars coming and yeah, then he was right there. So we need to have a look and see what the stewards say.”
This penalty means that the Australian will start the race tomorrow in fifth, behind teammate Lando Norris and the Ferraris drivers.
Norris gets promoted to the front row alongside Verstappen, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz occupying the second row of the grid.
