Oscar Piastri loses P3 after penalty for impeding Liam Lawson in F1 Italian GP qualifying

Oscar Piastri has lost his P3 after being hit with a Formula 1 grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson in Italian Grand Prix qualifying. 

The McLaren F1 driver got in Lawson's way at Turn 1 as he exited the pits and cost the Red Bull driver, who was on a push lap, crucial time. 

Despite the stewards accepting that Piastri "had no other options available" to him, they still dished out the standard three place grid penalty for "inadvertently" and "unnecessarily" impeding Lawson. 

Piastri went on to qualify third, while Red Bull's Lawson dropped out in the second part of qualifying with a time good enough for only 14th. 

The Australian will now start Sunday's race from sixth, with Charles Leclerc moving up to third, Lewis Hamilton to fourth and Max Verstappen to fifth.

"On leaving the pits, the driver of Car 81 (Piastri) was advised that 'Verstappen, Lawson and Sainz just crossing, Sainz has pitted, Just Verstappen and Lawson, watch out for them as you join'," the stewards concluded. 

"The driver of Car 81 stated that he was not alerted to the fact that VER and LAW were on push laps but realised as he was almost at turn 1 that VER was on a push lap. He slowed significantly and kept to the right to allow VER to pass but was unable to do anything to avoid impeding LAW who was close behind. 

"The Stewards accept that with the information he had, and the situation he was placed in, the driver of Car 81 had, at this stage, no other options available and hence, inadvertently, and also unnecessarily, impeded Car 30. Therefore the standard penalty of a drop of 3 grid positions is imposed."

Speaking before the decision was announced, Piastri admitted there was little he could have done to avoid getting in Lawson's way. 

“Yeah, I was coming out of the pits and, I mean, the speed difference out of the pits is so, so big here,” Piastri said at the FIA press conference. “So, yeah, I don't really know where he came from. I need to review with the team.”

Lawson will start from the back of the grid anyway due to exceeding his permitted allocation of engine components. 

“Yeah, I mean, it just wasn't ideal," the Kiwi said. “We obviously left it to the end there to try and put a lap together. So I was pretty hot after just one call. And then, yeah, obviously not ideal getting blocked at turn one.

“But I mean, the goal was to try and focus this weekend on the race anyway. Obviously, we've got the penalty for tomorrow. So yesterday we were very long runs focus anyway.”