Japanese GP qualifying result changes after grid penalty over Lewis Hamilton incident

Carlos Sainz has been handed a grid penalty for the after he was found guilty of impeding . The incident happened during the second part of qualifying for the Suzuka race as all the drivers completed their final runs of Q2.

had just finished his final attempt at a flying lap when Hamilton began his. But the driver failed to move off the racing line and Hamilton had to take evasive action to avoid a collision which ruined his lap after just a few seconds.

In truth, the driver was not affected too much as he had already secured his spot in Q3. However, that did not soften the stewards' stance on the matter when they investigated the incident after the session.

The deemed Sainz to have "unnecessarily impeded" Hamilton and imposed a three-place grid penalty on the Spaniard. As a result, he will start Sunday's race 15th on the grid rather than where he originally qualified in 12th place.

Explaining the decision, the stewards wrote: "Car 55 [Sainz] was on an in lap after having completed a push lap when Car 44 [Hamilton] was starting its push lap, and Car 44 had to move off track to avoid Car 55 in turn one.

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"The driver of Car 55 stated that he did not have any warning from the team, of the approach of Car 44 on a push lap. He stated that he was caught completely by surprise and because of the approach speed of Car 44, and the angle of his car, he could not see Car 44 in his mirrors.

"However notwithstanding the above, the team had ample warning that Car 44 was on an out lap whilst Car 55 was on its push lap. Also, more than eight seconds elapsed from when it was obvious Car 44 was not going into the pits, and hence was going to start a push lap, and when Car 55 could have taken appropriate action if the driver had been warned by the team.

"It is noted that the standard penalty guideline for this offence during qualifying, irrespective of whether it was the fault of the driver or the team, is a three-grid-position penalty, and therefore the stewards find that the standard penalty should be applied."

Three other drivers will benefit from Sainz's grid drop. moves up to 12th place on the grid, while and also rise one place each having been 14th and 15th respectively on the timesheets.

There will be no change to the top 10 after a Q3 which produced a shock result. were the overwhelming favourites for another pole position having dominated practice, but to deny both and .

It gave a final pole to celebrate at their home race in the last season of their long engine partnership with . And it was also the end of a personal drought for Verstappen who last went quickest in a qualifying session at the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix last June.