Valtteri Bottas has been handed a three-place grid penalty by
stewards for impeding Oscar Piastri in Miami Grand Prix sprint
qualifying. The Stake driver was on a cool-down lap in SQ1,
approaching Turn 1 as Piastri was starting a flying lap in the
McLaren - with the Finn moving across to take the right-hander. As
he did so, Piastri squeezed up the inside, with both narrowly
avoiding contact, and taking evasive action. However, the stewards
found that Bottas was "driving slowly on the racing line and caused
the situation that ensured." In the hearing, both Stake and Bottas
admitted that he was not warned of Piastri approaching, which was
"obviously an error on the team's part and contributed
significantly to the incident." As a result, Bottas was handed a
three-place drop for the sprint, which drops him from 18th to 20th
whilst Piastri will take his sixth on the grid.
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