Sainz gets three place grid penalty for impeding Hamilton

Sainz had qualified P12, with Hamilton P8, and his demotion due to the penalty promoted Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson and Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda to P12, P13 and P14 respectively.

Formula 1 stewards found that Sainz had unnecessarily impeded the seven times world champion at turn one after completing a quick lap and while Hamilton was just starting his in the Q2 second phase. The Ferrari had to go wide and off-track as a result.

FIA F1 Stewards reported at Suzuka: "(Sainz) stated that he did not have any warning from the team, of the approach of Car 44 (Hamilton) on a push lap," they said in a statement. He stated that he was caught completely by surprise and because of the approach speed of Car 44, and the angle of his car, he could not see Car 44 in his mirrors."

Stewards said the standard penalty should be applied, regardless of whether it was the fault of the driver or team. Sainz's teammate Alex Albon starts P9 on Sunday.

In the Williams team report, Sainz summed up another below-par day at the office: "Mixed feelings today. We’ve made some good progress this weekend and I felt a lot more comfortable with the car; there are still a few things to adjust here and there of course.

"This track requires a lot of confidence. I do feel we’ve taken a step forward. On the other hand, I lost around a tenth on S3 on my last lap, so Q3 was reachable and I’m obviously not happy I missed it.

"However, I prefer to take the positives from today and focus on the race, where we’ll try to do everything to gain some positions and have a positive Sunday," added Sainz.