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Carlos Sainz has been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Pierre Gasly in the latter stages of Qualifying 1 at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Gasly was forced to abandon a lap that would have seen him escape the bottom five cut off due to Sainz.
The Ferrari driver was dawdling on approach to the final chicane, Yuki Tsunoda diving underneath to start his final flying lap as Gasly approached at full speed as he completed his effort.
However, with his path blocked he took to the run off to avoid contact.
“I just think it’s completely unacceptable to be driving the way Carlos did,” Gasly said.
“It’s just as simple as that.
“Coming at 300[kh/h], he’s sitting 30km/h in the last chicane just focusing on his own lap, but you’re not alone on the racetrack.
“First of all, I could not even close the lap, which would have put us in the top six quite easily.
“Second of all, it was extremely dangerous and it was just unnecessary. So I’m just absolutely gutted.”
Officials heard the matter after the session and deemed Sainz had impeded Gasly.
They duly handed the Spaniard a three-place grid penalty.
“The driver of Car 55 stated that he was surprised that the driver of Car 22 overtook him into Turn 13 and as a result he accelerated late to start his fast lap,” the Stewards declared.
“The driver of Car 10 stated that the driver of Car 55 could have and should have ‘gone earlier’.
“Telemetry showed a significant speed differential between Cars 55 and 10.
“Although the overtaking move by Car 22 took the driver of Car 55 by surprise, it is our determination that the driver of Car 55 was predominantly to blame and unnecessarily impeded Car 10.”
It drops Sainz to 11th on the grid, scant consolation for Gasly.
“I’m sitting here in P17 when we have the car and the pace to be in the top 10, eight or even top six in these conditions,” he observed before the penalty had been confirmed.
“So whatever they decide, okay, it’s going to damage him, but it’s not going to give back the qualifying we should have had.
“Obviously I was in the opposite situation the other day, but the guys finished P1 and P2 and it didn’t impact their Sunday,” he added, referencing his Spanish GP penalties.
“Now I’m sitting here in P17 and obviously it ruined my qualifying and will impact my race a lot, so it’s just not acceptable.”
