Leclerc hit with grid penalty for impeding Piastri in sprint qualifying

The Ferrari driver has been demoted three positions and will drop from sixth on the grid to ninth for the Sprint race on Saturday afternoon. 

Following an investigation into the SQ1 incident, the stewards deemed Leclerc had "unnecessarily impeded" the McLaren driver. 

Piastri was eliminated in 17th, while Leclerc went on to set the sixth-fastest time. 

Leclerc's penalty moves Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon up one position. 

The stewards' verdict in full 

"The Stewards heard from the driver of Car ​16 (Charles Leclerc), the driver of Car 81 (Oscar Piastri), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence.

"The driver of Car 81 stated that as he approached Turn 9 he saw that Car 16 was travelling slowly and had to brake, reducing his speed by approximately 45 km/h over the previous push lap. This was verified by the Stewards referencing the telemetry of Car 81. It was confirmed Car 81 lost approximately 0.5 of a second in that mini-sector (5.3s v 4.8s).

"The driver of Car 16 stated that the last call he had from his team was when he was approaching Turn 4 (“Piastri 6 seconds”) and that he saw Car 81 in his mirrors as he was in Turn 8 and Car 81 was in Turn 7.

"The Team Representative of Car 16 stated that the team “could have done better” in communicating the rapid approach of Car 81 and its drivers stated that “If I had been warned I could have done something earlier”.

"Accordingly we determine that although this was not entirely the fault of the driver, and that the team’s lack of communication was the major contributing factor, a grid position penalty must be imposed as Car 81 was “unnecessarily impeded”, because there is no doubt that the situation could have been avoided.

"It should also be noted that this penalty is to apply ONLY to the Sprint and should the driver be unable to contest the Sprint at this event, the penalty shall carry over to the next Sprint (and not the Grand Prix)."