Bitter news for Oscar Piastri: Because the McLaren driver obstructed Kevin Magnussen in qualifying, he receives a three-position grid penalty
Oscar Piastri loses his second place on the grid! The McLaren driver is penalized by the race stewards for obstructing Haas driver Kevin Magnussen in the first part of qualifying. He is moved back three positions on the grid (result) and will therefore start the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix from fifth place
Piastri had just driven out of the pits at the start of qualifying when he got in Magnussen’s way in the first chicane [turns 2 and 3]. The stewards accepted the Australian’s explanation that he had only been able to see the Haas driver too late due to the track layout at this point and had then tried to accelerate in order to get out of the Dane’s way as quickly as possible.
Magnussen admits that it is difficult for the drivers to see the cars behind them in many places on the track. However, the race stewards checked the radio traffic and found that Piastri was informed far too late by his team, namely “only when Magnussen was already too close for Piastri to do anything to safely avoid an obstruction”, according to the official statement.
McLaren had enough time to warn Piastri
“I should have looked back a bit more,” admits Piastri. “When I looked in the rear-view mirrors, I didn’t see any cars coming, and then suddenly he was there.” In fact, the speed difference was around 140 km/h and Magnussen was only 40 to 50 meters behind the McLaren driver at the time, who was in the middle of the chicane when the Dane ran into him.
In the race stewards’ opinion, it was clear that Magnussen had been on a fast lap since the exit of turn 19, giving McLaren enough time to warn its driver. In this context, the stewards also checked when the other drivers were warned of approaching cars, namely much earlier, so that they could avoid an obstruction at Turn 2/3.
The stewards therefore determined that the McLaren team’s lack of sufficient warning had caused an “unnecessary obstruction”. For Sky expert Timo Glock, it was an understandable decision: “He was too close, you can see the stall immediately, you lose grip, the rear comes across and then it’s already over.”
“That was stupid timing for Kevin Magnussen, who could certainly have gone into Q2 in terms of performance,” believes the former Formula 1 driver. “But I doubt that he would have had the pace of Nico [Hülkenberg]. But to be fair, it has to be said: he didn’t have a fair chance of advancing to Q2. “
McLaren respects the decision
“Of course, it’s always annoying for the driver,” admits Glock. “In the end, it’s the team’s job, but that’s also part of qualifying. Not only do you have to drive a fast lap, but you can’t stand in anyone’s way. That’s the tiresome issue we always have. “
“We had spoken to Zak Brown about how important it is to position the cars correctly in Q1 so that you’re not in anyone’s way and get the free lap. And then something like that happens. We’ve seen it many times before, it can happen to anyone, everyone makes mistakes.”
“We respect the assessment and judgment of the stewards,” says McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella. “We have to improve our processes. We will continue and hope that tomorrow we can regain the positions on the grid that we lost today. “