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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