Pierre Gasly will be forced to start from the pit-lane at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after an incident in Practice 2.
The Red Bull driver missed the signal calling him to the weighbridge, which is a random selection done by the FIA to ensure all cars are running above the legal weight.
Having been to see the stewards after the session, the report did not offer an explanation from Gasly as to why he missed the flashing LED board which would have had ’10 GAS’ showing.
However, later in a tweet, Red Bull suggested the 23-year-old had been attempted a racing pit-stop during his long run, so was likely focused on other tasks.
A pit-lane start is an automatic penalty for such an infraction which may actually work in his favour if Turn 1 proves as chaotic as ever, but it is another setback after ending the day eighth overall.
“In the short runs, the laps were a bit messy but I think we have good potential if we manage to put everything together,” he said in reflection.
“With the high fuel, I’m feeling better and I’m pretty happy with the long runs. Of course, we would have liked to run in FP1 but I think we managed to do everything we wanted to in FP2.
“The car is getting better all the time and I’m happy with the feeling I’m getting from it.
“Ferrari seemed quite a lot faster today but we’ll see what we can do in qualifying tomorrow and like I say, we have a good race car so this is positive.”