Sirotkin, Magnussen land Brazil GP qualifying reprimands

Sergey Sirotkin and Kevin Magnussen have both been handed reprimands for driving too slowly during in laps in separate qualifying incidents at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Both the Williams and Haas drivers were flagged up to the FIA Stewards hearings after qualifying at Interlagos having been judged to be ‘driving unnecessarily slowly on an in lap’. Sirotkin was picked up for the offence in the closing minutes of Q1, while Magnussen had the same offence midway through Q2.

Following individual FIA Stewards’ hearings, both drivers were handed reprimands – Sirotkin’s first of the season and Magnussen’s second – with the Russian driver blaming the mistake on a setup issue.

Magnussen explained he was aiming not to impede other drivers during qualifying laps in Q2 while also being wary of the rain but having failed to meet the 145% delta lap time and a reprimand was imposed.

Both drivers retain their original qualifying positions, with Magnussen promoted to 10^th place by Daniel Ricciardo’s power unit penalty while Sirotkin moves up to 14^th place following Esteban Ocon’s gearbox penalty.

The pair join Sebastian Vettel in collecting a reprimand during qualifying as the Ferrari driver was hit with the punishment plus at €25,000 fine for destroying the car weighbridge during qualifying.

It marks an eventful qualifying for Sirotkin who was involved in a Q2 near-miss with eventual pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton while fighting for track position during out laps.