Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri each gain a place after Red Bull’s second car drops back three on the Melbourne grid.
Sergio Perez’s grid position for the Australian GP on Sunday has been adjusted from third to sixth due to a penalty for impeding Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg during qualifying.
As a result, Lando Norris of McLaren now occupies third place, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari moves up to fourth, and Oscar Piastri, also from McLaren, advances to fifth for his home race in Melbourne, ahead of the penalized Perez.
Max Verstappen, Perez’s teammate at Red Bull, secured the top spot on the grid, beating out Carlos Sainz from Ferrari.
Perez had a meeting with the stewards following the qualifying session to discuss the incident involving Hulkenberg in Q1. The stewards concluded that the Red Bull team had only informed their driver about the approaching Haas, which was on a fast lap, a bit too late while Perez was on a slower lap. As a result, they made a ruling in this regard.
In their official statement confirming the decision, the stewards stated that Hulkenberg was in the midst of a fast lap when he approached turn 13. At that moment, Perez, who was on an out lap, was positioned at the apex of the turn, causing Hulkenberg to deviate from the racing line in order to maneuver around him.
As a result, Hulkenberg was compelled to lift the throttle and brake earlier than anticipated for that particular corner. Upon reviewing the audio recordings from Perez’s car, the stewards noted that the team’s attention was primarily focused on the car ahead of Perez, which had just decelerated. Consequently, they failed to provide Perez with a timely warning about Hulkenberg’s presence behind him. In fact, the warning was only given one second before Hulkenberg arrived, which was significantly too late to prevent Hulkenberg from being impeded.
What does Perez’s penalty mean for the race?
The situation holds great importance within the Grand Prix setting this Sunday.
Verstappen finds himself somewhat alone at the forefront, with Sainz from Ferrari trailing in second place and Leclerc from the other Ferrari now positioned on the second row, accompanied by McLaren’s Lando Norris in third.
Perhaps the Ferraris have the opportunity to unite and challenge Verstappen’s position at the forefront.
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