F1 News
Giovinazzi hit with three-place grid penalty for Monaco Grand Prix
Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
Alfa Romeo Racing driver Antonio Giovinazzi has been hit with a three-place grid penalty and a penalty point on his racing licence by the stewards ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix for impeding Nico Hülkenberg during qualifying.
The Italian put his C38 on P15, but will subsequently start from P18 now, barring other grid penalties.
The reason for the penalty is because Giovinazzi impeded the flying lap of Renault's Hülkenberg in Q1, as the 25-year-old failed to make way in the run-up to Rascasse for the German, slowing his lap down significantly.
The statement from the stewards reads:
“The driver of car 99 was between turn 16 and turn 18 when he was warned exceptionally late that car 27 was behind him. At the time he was in the middle of the track and clearly impeded car 27.
“The stewards considered that as the driver of car 99 was on a set-up lap, he had the opportunity to give more room regardless of whether he received a warning from the team.
“Further the team had the opportunity to give a better warning. The stewards therefore determined that the impeding was unnecessary, and ordered a three grid place drop, consistent with past practice.”
Antonio Giovinazzi penalised with a three-place grid penalty for blocking Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying #MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Ma5cFbjnqy
— Scott Rose (@srose93) May 25, 2019
