Oscar Piastri has lost his front-row starting slot at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix following a stewards’ investigation.
During Q1, Piastri appeared to block Haas driver Kevin Magnussen at Turn 2, and unnecessarily impeded Magnussen, who was eliminated.
Piastri would go on to qualify within a tenth of pole-sitter Max Verstappen, after an impressive weekend performance armed with the whole package of McLaren upgrades.
In their investigation, the stewards found that Piastri was exiting the pits with Magnussen on a quick lap, and accepted his explanation that he could not see Magnussen due to the layout of the track, something Magnussen also accepted.
Upon seeing the Danish driver, Piastri tried to accelerate away but had already impeded the Haas driver, but crucially was not told by the team until it was too late that Magnussen was approaching, with a 140kph speed difference between the two.
The stewards felt that as it was clear Magnussen was on a fast lap, and that other drivers were warned in time of those on flying laps to avoid impeding, the lack of a warning from McLaren to Piastri constituted an “unnecessary impeding.”
As a result of the decision, Lando Norris moves up to second, Charles Leclerc third and Carlos Sainz fourth on the grid with Piastri dropping to fifth.