Four drivers handed grid penalties after Silverstone F3 qualifying

After Formula 3 qualifying at Silverstone, on Friday, four drivers were handed grid penalties for Saturday's sprint race.

Mari Boya, Sami Meguetounif, Max Esterson and Nikola Tsolov were all handed grid penalties after qualifying, by the Stewards, for impeding incidents.

All grid penalties would be applied to the Saturday sprint race grid, which will be the next race which all four drivers participate in.

Championship leader Luke Browning would take pole position at his home event at Silverstone with a great lap to see him be ahead of the second and third place drivers in Max Esterson and Sami Meguetounif who were second and third respectively.

The top three would be separated by less than a tenth with Meguetounif and Esterson being in trouble with the Stewards after the qualifying and would receive a grid penalty as both were found to be at fault for their respective incidents.

Esterson of Jenzer Motorsport would be handed a three-place grid penalty for the sprint race after he was found to have impeded Prema driver Dino Beganovic in the qualifying session.

After the Stewards had spoke to both drivers, their team representatives as well as reviewing relevant evidence, they determined that Esterson (Car 18) would be wholly responsible for the impeding incident. As a result the American driver will take a three-place grid penalty for Saturday morning's sprint race.

As for third in qualifying Sami Meguetounif of Trident, he too would be handed a three-place grid penalty for the Silverstone sprint race on Saturday morning. Meguetounif, who won the Imola feature race, would be handed a grid penalty for an impeding incident.

The French Trident driver would be handed a grid penalty for impeding Van Amersfoort Racing's Sophia Floersch. Meguetounif, after a post-qualifying session investigation, where the Stewards spoke to all relevant personnel and reviewed all relevant evidence to make a decision on the incident.

Once the investigation was complete, the Stewards would determine that Meguetounif should have been more aware of his surroundings and faster cars approaching. The Stewards would find him at fault and would therefore hand him a three-place grid penalty.

Spanish Campos racer Mari Boya would join Meguetounif and Esterson in being handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding. Likewise Boya would  be off to see the Stewards for allegedly impeding Sophia Floersch - similar to Sami Meguetounif.

After the incident was reviewed further in detail, the Stewards would determine that Boya would be found to have clearly impeded Floersch like Meguetounif did. Boya would be handed a three-place time penalty which would come into effect for the Saturday morning sprint race.

Last but not least, ART driver and two-time Formula 3 race winner Nikola Tsolov would be handed a three-place grid penalty after an impeding incident - the Stewards decided. Bulagrian Tsolov would be under investigation for potential impeding of the Rodin Motorsport of Piotr Wisnicki.

The Stewards would ultimately determine a three-place grid penalty would be the fitting punishment for Tsolov who had it determined that he should have more awareness with faster cars approaching behind him.

Four drivers were handed penalties that will all take place for Saturday's sprint race grid. This would be when Formula 3 action next returns.

Action will return on Saturday morning for the sprint race with Mexican driver Noel Leon starting from pole position.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal