Two F1 Drivers Will Start Higher Than They Qualified Despite Getting Grid Penalties

Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll didn’t have particularly great qualifying sessions. Not only did they come under fire for blocking other drivers, they could only qualify 20th and 18th respectively.

However, thanks to four drivers ahead of them (Max Verstappen, Nico Hulkenberg, Brendon Hartley, and Stoffel Vandoorne) having grid penalties for engine changes, they were set to start the race from a few places higher up.

Magnussen has been doing a good job of making other drivers angry in recent races, and this time it was Sergio Perez who was on the receiving end. He was on a fast lap when he came across Magnussen, who made no effort at all to get out of the way. Perez immediately aired his grievances over team radio, saying “What the f—k is he doing?!” and labelling the Haas driver as “unprofessional.”

Lance Stroll found himself in a similar situation. He was winding himself up for a fast lap when Romain Grosjean came around the corner to find the Williams driver dawdling on the racing line and had to take evasive action.

To be fair to both Magnussen and Stroll, they were acting on bad information from their engineers, who didn’t tell them the drivers behind them were on quick laps. But rules are rules, and both were hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding other drivers.

But thanks to the way in which stewards apply the penalties, they’ll actually be starting higher than they qualified - Magnussen in 18th, Stroll in 16th. Yup, really.

OK, because of the engine penalties to other drivers they could have started a bit higher up had they not got nabbed for blocking, so it’s still a penalty of sorts. It doesn’t exactly look great though, does it? Break rules, get penalty, start from a better position. How do you explain that to a casual viewer?!

Grid penalties…don’t you just love ‘em?