FIA stewards explain Piastri penalty in McLaren F1 title blow

Oscar Piastri received a five-second time penalty at the start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, damaging his entire race. 

The McLaren driver was penalised for being in an incorrect starting position, having been marginally in-front of his P8 grid slot.

His front tyres were the issue, with them having been outside the lines of his grid box. As a result, the Australian driver was in breach of Article 48.1.c of the F1 sporting regulations.

The stewards' report read: "The Stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, and determined that part of the contact patch of Car 81’s front tyres were outside the lines of the grid box at the time of the Start Signal. 

"This is a breach of Article 48.1.c of the FIA Formula Sporting Regulations. This attracts a mandatory time penalty under Article 54.3 of the Sporting Regulations. Given the limited extent of the breach, we determined that a 5-second time penalty was appropriate.

"Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits."

It was a damaging penalty for Piastri, as he lost significant ground and places at his first pit-stop, when the punishment was served. 

He recovered to finish in seventh directly behind Lando Norris in sixth, whilst Ferrari secured third and fourth. 

As a result, Ferrari enter this weekend's Qatar Grand Prix just 24 points behind the Woking-based team.