Charles Leclerc has been handed a three-place grid penalty by the stewards following an incident in which he impeded Oscar Piastri during the sprint qualifying session in Austria. Leclerc was heading into the pits when he found himself directly in the path of Piastri, compromising the Aston Martin driver’s flying lap just before the finish line.
Piastri immediately reported the incident over the team radio, stating that he was “massively impeded by the Ferrari.” The incident was subsequently investigated by race control, leading to both Leclerc and Piastri being summoned to meet with the stewards.
The stewards determined that the fault for the incident lay with Ferrari, as they failed to provide Leclerc with adequate warning about the approaching car. While acknowledging the team’s error, the stewards ruled that the penalty must be applied as it was a clear violation of Article 37.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.
During the stewards’ investigation, Piastri revealed that he had to reduce his speed significantly, by 45km/h, in order to avoid contact with Leclerc. The stewards confirmed that Piastri lost half a second in that minisector due to the impeding incident.
Leclerc expressed his belief that he should have been given more warning by his team, stating that if he had been informed earlier, he could have taken appropriate action. The Ferrari representative admitted that the pit wall could have done better in terms of communication.
The stewards concluded that the situation was not entirely the fault of the driver and that it could have been avoided if the team had communicated effectively. As a result of the penalty, Leclerc will start the sprint race from ninth place, while Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, and Esteban Ocon will each move up one position on the grid.
This is not the first time this season that Ferrari has faced penalties due to inadequate warning to Leclerc. In Monaco, Leclerc impeded Lando Norris, who encountered the slow-moving Ferrari in the tunnel. On that occasion, Leclerc’s race engineer had been providing information about the speed of Max Verstappen rather than warning about approaching drivers.
