DOHA, Qatar — Oscar Piastri found out he had been demoted to sixth on the grid midway through an interview he was doing to celebrate qualifying in the top three at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Piastri exceeded track limits on the Q3 lap which had been quick enough for third fastest, something which results in an automatic deletion by the FIA stewards.
The FIA confirmed the decision four minutes after the session finished, but by that point Piastri was midway through an interview with Sky Sports’ Naomi Schiff for the F1 global feed.
The Australian rookie had already described his lap as scruffy in his first answer, before Schiff relayed the demotion to him.
To that, the McLaren rookie laughed and said: “I didn’t know, but this is fun isn’t it? Not knowing who is in the top three.”
When told he will start Sunday’s grand prix from sixth, he said: “Wonderful”.
Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris lost out on a spot on the front row of the grid alongside Max Verstappen for similar moments.
On both his Q3 laps, Norris put all four wheels over the white lines on the edge of Turn 5, meaning they were deleted.
Both laps had been good enough for second on the grid.
When driving back to the pit-lane, a frustrated Norris opened his radio channel and said: “I’m so s— sometimes!”
The double demotions are a blow to McLaren, who expected to have good pace at Qatar’s Losail circuit.
Source: www.espn.com