Chinese Grand Prix – Romain Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer have received a 5-place grid penalty each for failing to slow under yellow flags in qualifying.
Both drivers needed to improve their times at the end of Q1 to advance to the next session, but a crash for Antonio Giovinazzi at the final corner meant double waved yellows were being shown.
For both cases, the stewards spoke to the drivers, a team representative and reviewed the video footage “which clearly showed that the driver attempted to set a meaningful lap time after passing through a double waved yellow marshalling sector, contrary to the requirements set out in the Race Director’s Event Notes.”
“The stewards also took into consideration that the driver made no attempt to significantly reduce his speed in the area of a double waved yellow flag,” read the FIA notice.
Having qualified 17th and 18th respectively, the penalty will drop Grosjean and Palmer to the back row of the grid, promoting Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon.
In addition to the grid penalty, both drivers have received three penalty points; this brings Grosjean’s twelve-month tally to three and Palmer’s to seven.
