Oscar Piastri’s F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix penalty, explained

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri qualified second at Imola, but teammate Lando Norris will start next to Max Verstappen

Oscar Piastri delivered a sublime performance Saturday during qualifying for the Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, crossing the line second behind only pole-sitter Max Verstappen. The impressive effort from the McLaren driver set him up to start alongside Verstappen in Sunday’s race, and with teammate Lando Norris behind him in third, it has the team set up for a tremendous result in Imola.

However, Piastri will not start alongside Verstappen after all, and it will be Norris in P2 when the lights go out on Sunday. Instead, Piastri will start fifth.

The reason? The McLaren driver was summoned to meet with race officials following qualifying on Saturday and following that meeting, Piastri was hit with a three-place grid penalty for ”impeding” Haas driver Kevin Magnussen during the first portion of qualifying. As a result, it will be Norris in P2 when the lights go out Sunday, and Piastri down in P5.

The incident in question occurred at the end of Q1 on Saturday. In the closing seconds of the first stage, Magnussen was on a push lap, trying to set down a time that would advance him into Q2. But he came upon a slow-moving Piastri at the start of the lap, and the McLaren driver was on the racing line.

You can see the incident from Magnussen’s vantage point here:

As you can also see — and hear — the Haas driver was rather frustrated at the moment, and that frustration would only increase as he was eliminated in Q1.

Both drivers and teams were summoned to meet with race officials, after which the penalty was issued. According to their decision, the officials ” ... accepted the explanation of Piastri that because of the layout of the circuit at that location, he could not see Magnussen until it was too late, at which time he tried to accelerate away in order to get clear of Magnussen as quickly as possible. Magnussen acknowledged that it was difficult for drivers to see cars behind in many portions of the track, including here.”

Yet, race officials reviewed McLaren’s radio messages and found that the team did not give the driver sufficient warning of Magnussen’s approach.

“However, 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 safety avoid impeding. In fact there was an approximately 140 km/h speed differential and Magnussen was only approximately 40-50 m behind at the time and this meant that Piastri was in the middle of the chicane when Magnussen caught up directly behind Piastri. Further, it was clear that Magnussen was on a fast lap since his exit of Turn 19.”

Race officials also reviewed data from other teams and drivers for a comparison point, and found that other teams and drivers were able to sufficiently avoid impeding those behind them at the same portion of the track.

“The Stewards also reviewed where other drivers were warned of approaching cars and it was significantly earlier, and they were able to avoid impeding at Turn 2/3. Traffic management for slower cars is an extremely important part of the team/driver combination, particularly in Q1. In this instance the Stewards determine that the lack of sufficient warning caused an “unnecessary impeding,” noted the race officials in their decision.

In their decision, race officials cite Article 37.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, which reads ”[a]ny driver taking part in any free practice session, the qualifying session or the sprint shootout who, in the opinion of the stewards, stops unnecessarily on the circuit or unnecessarily impedes another driver shall be subject to the penalties referred to in Article 37.4.”

Such penalties include a grid drop, such as the one handed down to Piastri.

As a result, Piastri will now start fifth on Sunday, with teammate Norris beginning the race alongside Verstappen.

With both cars inside the top five, McLaren still has a very good chance at a major points haul, but the penalty does take some of the shine off what was a very good day for Team Papaya.