Stroll slapped with three-place grid penalty for impeding Gasly in Monaco GP qualifying

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Monaco Grand Prix after impeding Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in qualifying. 

Feature image credit: Aston Martin F1 Team

Stroll will now serve a four-place grid penalty at the Monaco GP after he was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Gasly in qualifying. This will be added to his current grid penalty of one place, after he caused a collision with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in free practice one.

In Q1, the Canadian driver was told that Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was set to overtake him, but he assumed wrongly that Hamilton was the only driver to let by. 

As he returned to the racing line, Stroll inadvertently impeded Gasly, who was on a fast lap heading out of the tunnel and into the Nouvelle chicane. 

It was reported that Stroll couldn’t tell the colour of the car thanks to the positioning of the sun, which the stewards had accepted, but they still imposed a three-place grid penalty for impeding the Alpine. 

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In the steward’s report, they said: 

“Car 18 [Stroll] was informed that Car 10 [Gasly] was arriving on a fast lap at Turn 10. From the radio communications it appears that Car 18 was not informed/reminded that Car 44 [Hamilton] (whom Car 18 had overtaken earlier in that lap) was also coming and that Car 44 was going to overtake Car 18.

“The driver of Car 18 assumed wrongly that there was only one car to be let by and when Car 44 (which was not on a fast lap) went by him, he moved back to the racing line thereby impeding Car 10 which was on a fast lap.

“During the hearing, the driver of Car 18 stated that he could not tell the colour of the car that had overtaken him because of the position of the sun, which we accepted.

“He therefore wrongly assumed that there was no other car to be let by. In the circumstances, we imposed the usual penalty of a drop of 3 grid positions.”

This means that Stroll will move to the back of the grid, but will remain in 19th, ahead of Haas’ Oliver Bearman. The Haas driver will serve his 10-place grid penalty for a red flag infringement in FP2, having qualified 16th.

In total, it means Colapinto will move up to 18th after qualifying 20th.

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Norris claims pole position ahead of Leclerc for Monaco GP
• Colapinto avoids punishment for Monaco GP red flag infringement
• Leclerc clean sweeps Monaco GP practice as Hamilton crashes
• 2 Grid penalties confirmed so far ahead of Monaco GP
• Leclerc completes clean sweep in disrupted Monaco GP FP2
• Leclerc fastest in Monaco GP FP1 after collision with Stroll

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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.