During Q1 of the Saturday morning shootout qualifying session, the Ferrari driver got in the way of his McLaren competitor in the final sequence of corners.
Piastri complained on the team radio about the matter and both drivers were summoned to see the stewards after the session.
Following a hearing, the stewards concluded that while Leclerc had not had as clear communication to warn him about Piastri approaching him, he still could have done a better job in getting out of the way.
That is why it was decided to hand him a three-place grid drop for Saturday afternoon’s sprint race. That will drop him from sixth to ninth, as he drops behind Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon.
A statement issued by the stewards said: “The driver of Car 81 [Piastri] stated that as he approached Turn 9 he saw that Car 16 was travelling slowly and had to brake, reducing his speed by approximately 45 km/h over the previous push lap.
“This was verified by the Stewards referencing the telemetry of Car 81. It was confirmed Car 81 lost approximately 0.5 of a second in that mini sector (5.3s v 4.8s).
“The driver of Car 16 stated that the last call he had from his team was when he was approaching Turn 4 (“Piastri 6 seconds”) and that he saw Car 81 in his mirrors as he was in Turn 8 and Car 81 was in Turn 7.
Source: Autosport