Stroll issued hefty grid penalty for Las Vegas GP

Lance Stroll has been issued a five-place grid penalty for the Las Vegas Grand Prix after being found guilty of an infringement during the final practice session.

Stroll was summoned to the Stewards after FP3 for allegedly overtaking under yellow flag conditions.

Alex Albon hit the wall late on in the session to bring out the yellow flags as he was forced to stop on the circuit.

The Stewards detailed that “double yellow flags were waved at Marshal Post 12.9 as Car 18 [Stroll] approached that point along the straight. After passing the flags, which were clearly visible on the onboard video from Car 18, Car 18 overtook Car 55 [Carlos Sainz].”

During the hearing, Stroll informed the Stewards that he had his “head down” in the cockpit while looking at his dash and concentrating on the Ferrari ahead of him.

As a result, he missed the yellow flags that were being waved. The Stewards noted that “although there were no yellow light panels displayed, the regulations are clear that the flags and light panels have the same meaning”.

Stroll will therefore drop five places from wherever he qualifies on the grid for Sunday's race.

The Canadian driver was also issued three penalty points on his Super Licence, bringing his total to five in the last 12 months.