Carlos Sainz receives a 3-place penalty for impeding Pierre Gasly in Q1, turning Ferrari’s qualifying bad to worse

F1 Grand Prix of Canada - Final Practice — Carlos Sainz penalised for impeding another driver during Canadian GP (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Carlos Sainz was penalised at the Canadian Grand Prix after impeding Pierre Gasly during the qualifying session on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

An incident took place during the final minutes of the Q1 qualifying session of the Canadian Grand Prix as the drivers were getting lined up for their final hot laps. Pierre Gasly, who was on the final straight of the track, had Sainz ahead of him. As per the rules, the Spaniard was supposed to move away from the racing line, which he couldn't.

This ruined Gasly's lap and he was knocked out of Q1. He was in quite some rage when this happened, and Carlos Sainz was booked by the stewards and given the grid penalty.

The grid penalty is not something that the Maranello-based outfit would have wanted even a bit. The team is already facing a hard phase as their pace has been questionable in this season of Formula 1. With Charles Leclerc already out in Q1, this will make the race very difficult for the team.

Earlier, during the Monaco Grand Prix, Leclerc was booked under a similar incident for impeding Lando Norris and was given a three-place grid penalty which ruined his race to an extent.

Was Carlos Sainz blocked by another car when he impeded Pierre Gasly?

When Carlos Sainz was warming up for his hot lap, he had one of the AlphaTauris to his right. When Gasly came in rushing on his lap, there was almost no place for the Spaniard to move to because of the AlphaTauri. This left him with no choice but to be on the racing line on the final chicane of the track.

This might be one of the reasons (as it looked from a viewer's perspective) for Sainz impeding Gasly. However, the final decision will only be made by the stewards after the end of the entire qualifying session.

Interestingly enough, Carlos Sainz was also almost in the middle of the track during Q2 when Alex Albon was setting his hot lap on soft tires. It could have turned out to be a fatal crash, but the quick reflexes from the latter saved it.

Multiple drivers have been booked under similar circumstances. The rain-drenched qualifying session of the Canadian Grand Prix hasn't been of much help to the drivers, and now the final decision from the stewards is awaited.