Piastri slapped with three-place grid drop for F1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

Feature Image Credit: McLaren Racing

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri has been slapped with a three-place grid drop for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after he was deemed to have impeded Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.

Piastri was set to start on the front row of the Emilia-Romagna GP having secured a P2 slot on the grid, narrowly missing out on pole position by 0.073s. 

However, in the first third of qualifying for the Imola race, Piastri was put under investigation by race control for impeding Magnussen. 

Replays showed that the Haas driver was on his fast lap, and the McLaren failed to get out of the way in time when the two met each other at the Tamburello chicane, in turns two and three. 

As a result, Magnussen was knocked out of Q1 while Piastri progressed and finished qualifying in second.

The two drivers and their team representatives were summoned to the stewards at 6:15pm (local time). During their meeting, the stewards and respective parties reviewed; positioning/marshalling system data, video, team-provided telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence. 

The stewards heard and accepted Piastri’s explanation that ‘he could not see Magnussen until it was too late,’ and attempted to accelerate away from the Dane. The Haas driver is said to have ‘acknowledged’ it is difficult to see drivers behind in portions of the circuit.

“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,” said the Steward’s report. 

“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.”

Following the meeting, the stewards had determined there was a ‘lack of sufficient’ warning between McLaren and Piastri which resulted in ‘unnecessary impeding.’ 

As a result, it means Piastri will now start the race in fifth place, promoting teammate Lando Norris and the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz into second, third and fourth respectively.

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Verstappen claims seventh pole position ahead of Emilia-Romagna GP
• F1 Emilia-Romagna: Leclerc completes Friday clean sweep with fastest lap in Imola
• Tsunoda looks back at Imola floods ahead of Emilia-Romagna GP
• Mercedes F1 hoping new Imola upgrades push team ‘in the right direction’
• Albon extends his F1 stay with ‘multi-year contract’ at Williams
• Norris secures maiden win at F1 Miami Grand Prix

Give us a follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with the latest news from the world of Motorsport! You can also support us on Patreon or on our website!

Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.