FIA deliver double grid penalty blow after Azerbaijan GP qualifying

The Cadillac driver will take a three-place grid penalty on Saturday after being found responsible for impeding Oscar Piastri during qualifying. The Cadillac driver was on a preparation lap approaching the final corners when Piastri arrived behind him on a flying lap at significantly higher speed.

Perez had already been warned over the radio that the McLaren was closing in, but while warming his tyres he moved towards the line taken by Piastri. The Australian was subsequently forced to lift and alter his direction, prompting the stewards to impose the standard three-place penalty for impeding.

Perez argued that he did not have another reasonable option in the circumstances, as he was trying to prepare his tyres while managing the approaching traffic. The stewards also reviewed whether the incident should be considered dangerous, but decided that it did not meet that threshold.

Piastri confirmed that he had been forced to lift, although he said he did not ultimately lose a significant amount of lap time. Nevertheless, the stewards determined that Perez failed to follow the traffic-management instructions and had unnecessarily impeded Piastri, making the three-place grid drop applicable.

As for Sainz, the Spaniard has been handed a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow’s race after failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags during qualifying. The Williams driver encountered single yellow flags in Marshalling Sectors 4 and 5, with the warnings clearly visible both on track and over team radio.

Sainz was specifically told to “lift” by his team, but the stewards found that he did not make a meaningful reduction in speed through Sector 4, where he even recorded his fastest time of the session. His response to the yellow flag only came in the following sector, leading the stewards to conclude that he did not complied with the requirements.

He defended his actions by explaining that he intended to demonstrate a reduction in speed across the yellow-flagged area as a whole rather than slowing separately in each sector. He believed there was no need to reduce his speed on the straight and planned to show his reaction when approaching and exiting Turn 3, considering this a "global lift" covering the consecutive yellow sectors.

The Spaniard also pointed out that the car which had caused the yellow flags was no longer in the run-off area, leading him to expect the flags to be withdrawn. The stewards rejected that interpretation, stressing that each individual yellow-flag sector requires a significant reaction from the driver and that slowing down later cannot compensate for failing to do so in the preceding sector. In addition to the five-place grid drop, Sainz received two penalty points, taking his total to four over the previous 12 months.