Oscar Piastri lost his starting position on the front row at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after a three-place penalty for impeding another driver during qualifying.
Piastri was one of Saturday’s top performers, finishing just 0.07 seconds behind world champion Max Verstappen.
However, he will now start fifth after he was found to have blocked Kevin Magnussen during Q1.
The penalty promotes Piastri’s team-mate Lando Norris, winner of the Miami Grand Prix two weeks ago, to second on the grid alongside Verstappen, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc moving to P3 and Carlos Sainz on the second row .
The stewards said: “Piastri was coming out of the pits and Magnussen was on his fast lap. Piastri blocked Magnussen at the chicane in turns two and three.
“The stewards accepted Piastri’s explanation that due to the layout of the track at that location, he could not see Magnussen until it was too late, so he tried to accelerate to get away from Magnussen as quickly as possible. .
“Magnussen acknowledged that it was difficult for the drivers to see cars behind at many points on the track, including here. However, the marshals checked the team radio and Piastri’s team did not warn him of the much faster approaching car until the Magnussen was too close for Piastri to do anything to safely avoid the obstruction.
“Actually, there was a speed difference of around 140km/h and Magnussen was only around 40-50m behind at the time and that meant Piastri was in the middle of the chicane when Magnussen got right behind Piastri. Furthermore, it was clear that Magnussen was on a fast lap from the exit of Turn 19.”
The stewards’ report went on to say: “In this case the Stewards decide that the lack of adequate warning caused an ‘undue obstruction’.