AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda has been handed his third different grid drop of the Italian Grand Prix weekend for failing to slow for yellow flags in second practice.
Tsunoda was initially handed a 10-place grid penalty for becoming the first F1 driver to amass five reprimands and earn the resulting penalty.
That penalty was triggered at the Dutch GP, when Tsunoda was reprimanded for driving with his seatbelts loosened during the confusion over whether he needed to retire his car or not.
This led to the team choosing to take a new suite of engine components at Monza, a decision that resulted in an automatic back-of-the-grid penalty.
Following an investigation into the Japanese driver not sufficiently slowing for yellow flags when Mick Schumacher’s Haas ground to a halt in FP2, Tsunoda has now been given a further three-place grid penalty.
The stewards ruled that “it was clear that [Tsunoda] did not reduce speed as required” as he headed towards Schumacher’s stricken Haas before the first Lesmo.
As well as it being his third different grid penalty of the weekend, Tsunoda has also been awarded two penalty points that take his tally to eight – four shy of the 12-point limit that triggers a race ban.
No F1 driver has reached that 12-point mark since the penalty points system was introduced, but three F2 drivers have received event bans this year for reaching it.
Tsunoda isn’t the only driver with a grid penalty this weekend as points leader Max Verstappen has a five-place grid penalty for taking a fifth internal combustion engine of the season.
Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez has a 10-place grid drop, Valtteri Bottas has a 15-place grid penalty while Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton have back-of-the-grid penalties.
