Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar has been given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Carlos Sainz during qualifying for the 2025 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix.
The Frenchman advanced to Q3 and qualified ninth at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve; however, a Q1 incident involving the Williams driver has now resulted in a grid penalty.
Heading into Turn 6, as Sainz was on a push lap, Hadjar remained on the racing line as he thought his fellow competitor had aborted his lap.
But as the Spaniard approached the slow-moving Racing Bulls car, it impacted his final attempt in Q1 and resulted in him qualifying in 17th place.
The stewards determined it was a slam dunk penalty, with the FIA releasing the following decision: “Car 6 was on an in-lap and was caught by Car 55, on a push lap, at the entry to turn 6.
“Although Car 6 attempted to move off the racing line to leave space for Car 55, the move was too late.
“The driver of Car 6 agreed that Car 55 was impeded. He explained that he had earlier been told by his team that Car 55 was approaching on a push lap but the team then told him that Car 55 had abandoned the lap.
“He said that although he saw Car 55 in his mirrors, he relied upon what he had been told by his team and when he realised the information was wrong he did his best to move out of
the way.
“The standard penalty for this infringement during Qualifying in the Penalty Guidelines is a 3 grid position penalty regardless of whether the incident was the fault of the
driver or the team.”
Hadjar will now start the Canadian GP from 12th place.
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