Carlos Sainz receives five-place grid penalty for Azerbaijan GP after yellow-flag breach in Qualifying
Image accompanying the official F1 announcement.Carlos Sainz will start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from 14th after receiving a five-place grid penalty, following stewards’ decision that he breached yellow-flag rules in Qualifying.
The penalty comes after Sainz had secured ninth place on the grid at the Baku City Circuit in his updated Williams during the final phase of Qualifying. Sainz was subsequently noted for a potential rule breach relating to failing to slow for yellow flags.
After hearing from Sainz and a representative from Williams, and reviewing the data available to them, the stewards determined the Spaniard had broken the regulations. As a result, Sainz’s grid position was adjusted from P9 to P14.
With Sainz dropping five places, the updated order promotes Franco Colapinto, Ollie Bearman, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon to higher starting positions for Saturday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The announcement was made by the stewards in relation to Saturday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix starting grid. Any race outcome and points are separate from this Qualifying-incident penalty and will be determined in the Grand Prix itself.
Reporting source: F1 official update