Leclerc gets sprint grid penalty for impeding Piastri

Charles Leclerc has been given a three-place grid penalty for the sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix after impeding Oscar Piastri in the sprint shootout.

The Ferrari driver was on the apex at Turn 9 as Piastri approached on a flying lap, with the McLaren driver having to slow to avoid contact and being eliminated in Q1 of the Saturday morning qualifying session for the sprint. Although a substantial proportion of the blame was attributed to Ferrari for a lack of communication with Leclerc, a grid penalty was handed out that applies only to sprint events.

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“The driver of Car 81 stated that as he approached Turn 9 he saw that Car 16 was traveling slowly and had to brake, reducing his speed by approximately 45 km/h over the previous push lap,” the stewards’ decision read. “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 six 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 driver 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.”

Leclerc is demoted from sixth on the sprint grid to ninth place, promoting Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon. In the unlikely event that Leclerc doesn’t take part in the sprint, the penalty will only carry over to the next sprint event and not Sunday’s grand prix itself.