Hadjar hit with three-place grid penalty for impeding Sainz in qualifying
Despite another brilliant qualifying performance at this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, Racing Bulls driver Isack Hajdar has been hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Carlos Sainz in Q1.
Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar displayed another great performance to secure P9 on the grid for today's Canadian Grand Prix, albeit he will drop three places after an incident in Q1.
The Frenchman was found guilty of impeding Williams driver Carlos Sainz in the closing stages of qualifying at Montreal. The rookie driver was on a cooldown lap at the end of Q1 when Sainz was on his final push lap and approached Hadjar into Turn 6.
Although Sainz was able to finish his lap, he was heavily compromised by the incident which contributed to the Spaniard dropping out in a lowly 17th position.
As a result of the impeding, Hadjar has been handed a three-place grid penalty which will see him start his first Canadian Grand Prix from P12 on the grid.
The statement from the stewards read: "The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 6 (Isack Hadjar), the driver of Car 55 (Carlos Sainz), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, team radio and in-car video evidence.
"Car 6 was on an in-lap and was caught by Car 55, on a push lap, at the entry to turn 6. Although Car 6 attempted to move off the racing line to leave space for Car 55, the move was too late. The driver of Car 6 agreed that Car 55 was impeded.
"He explained that he had earlier been told by his team that Car 55 was approaching on a push lap but the team then told him that Car 55 had abandoned the lap. He said that although he saw Car 55 in his mirrors, he relied upon what he had been told by his team and when he realised the information was wrong he did his best to move out of the way.
"The standard penalty for this infringement during Qualifying in the Penalty Guidelines is a 3 grid position penalty regardless of whether the incident was the fault of the driver or the team."
