Yuki Tsunoda has been handed a three-place grid penalty after he was found to have impeded Lewis Hamilton during qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Tsunoda was deemed to have held up Hamilton in the closing stages of Q2, with the Mercedes driver ultimately failing to progress into the top 10 shootout.
Both drivers were summoned to the stewards and after reviewing video footage, team radio and relevant data, it was adjudged that the AlphaTauri driver had impeded Hamilton.
“Tsunoda was on the dry racing line at the exit of Turn 13 preparing for his fast lap and had not fully come up to speed and therefore impeded Hamilton,” the stewards’ report read.
“Tsunoda explained that he had been passed by another car and decided to remain slow in order to regain his gap. In the opinion of the Stewards, Tsunoda clearly had the ability to stay off the line and therefore this impeding was unnecessary.”
The decision means that Tsunoda will drop from 14th to 17th on the grid, promoting Nico Hulkenberg, Guanyu Zhou and Esteban Ocon. Hamilton remains 13th.
Lance Stroll had also been summoned for a separate alleged case of blocking the seven-time champion. The stewards decided on no further action for that incident.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was less fortunate after being handed a reprimand for a “potentially dangerous manoeuvre” when exiting the pit lane ahead of Oscar Piastri.
The stewards determined that Sainz had immediately moved over to the racing line and was unaware of the McLaren, forcing Piastri to take to the grass at Turn 2 to avoid a collision.
“The Stewards listened to the radio of Bottas, who was the car that exited the pits immediately ahead of Sainz, and Bottas was given ample warning of Piastri approaching on the track,” the stewards’ report stated.
“By comparison, Sainz was warned not to cross the white line at the exit of the pits, and was not warned about Piastri until he was already alongside.
“Sainz explained that he had briefly caught sight of Piastri as he was rounding turn 1 at the pit exit and gauged that Piastri was on a slow lap. From then on he did not see Piastri because of the relative angle of the cars.”
The stewards have also fined Ferrari €5,000 after judging that the lack of communication from the team contributed to the near miss.
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