Both Racing Bulls cars have now been hit with a grid penalty for the Canadian Grand Prix, with Liam Lawson starting from the pitlane.

The Kiwi driver is set to start the Canadian Grand Prix from the pitlane, due to a late change of power unit and other ancillaries.

Liam Lawson to start Canadian GP from the pitlane

With a 1:12.525 in Q1, Lawson was knocked out in the first part of qualifying down in 18th place.

With little to lose as a result, Racing Bulls has opted to fit his car with a fresh engine, his fifth internal combustion engine (ICE) of the season.

The teams are permitted just four engines for the season, with Lawson adding a fifth to his pool with the change – meaning Racing Bulls can now cycle through these engines as they see fit without any further penalty.

This ICE change would trigger a 10-place grid penalty in itself, but Racing Bulls has also fitted his car with a fifth turbocharger (TC) and MGU-H – also parts that have an annual allowance of four for the season.

Just two energy stores (ES) and control electronics (CE) are permitted for the season, but Lawson has been fitted with a third of both.

With the changes being made under parc fermé, as well as the team taking the opportunity to tweak Lawson’s suspension setup, the Kiwi driver will thus start from the pitlane.

“The use of each additional element in this case carries a 10 grid place penalty, therefore, there is an accumulation of 50 places,” the stewards said ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

“Article 42.3 d) of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations provides that a driver which has accrued more than 15 cumulative grid position penalties must start from the back of the grid.

“Power Unit elements were changed without the permission of the FIA Technical Delegate.

“Racing Bulls F1 Team changed the setup of the suspension of [Lawson] under Parc Fermé, this not being in accordance with Article 40.9 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

“As the Power Unit elements were changed without permission and changes have been made to the suspension setup, Car 30 is required to start the race from the pit lane.”

Lawson’s pitlane start promotes Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda to a 19th-place grid slot, having taken a 10-place grid penalty for overtaking Oscar Piastri under red flag conditions in FP3 – a move which also earned the Japanese driver two penalty points.

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Isack Hadjar was also given a grid penalty

Lawson’s required pitlane start means that both Racing Bulls won’t start where they qualified, following Isack Hadjar being given a grid penalty after the Saturday session.

Hadjar made it into Q3 and set a 1:11.867 to claim ninth on the grid, but was given a three-place penalty for impeding Carlos Sainz during Q2.

“[Hadjar] was on an in-lap and was caught by [Sainz], on a push lap, at the entry to Turn 6,” the stewards said.

“Although Hadjar attempted to move off the racing line to leave space for [Sainz], the move was too late.

“[Hadjar] agreed that Car 55 was impeded. He explained that he had earlier been told by his team that [Sainz] was approaching on a push lap but the team then told him that [Sainz] had abandoned the lap.

“He said that, although he saw [Sainz] in his mirrors, he relied upon what he had been told by his team and when he realised the information was wrong he did his best to move out of the way.

“The standard penalty for this infringement during Qualifying in the Penalty Guidelines is a three-place grid position penalty regardless of whether the incident was the fault of the driver or the team.”

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