Why were George Russell, Esteban Ocon, and Pierre Gasly given penalties for impeding during the 2023 F1 Brazilian GP

Mercedes driver George Russell and Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon have been given a two-place grid penalty for the main race on Sunday.

The stewards noted that Car 63 of Russell impeded Gasly during the Q1 session as he was not going left on the pit exit as per the race director's notes. The British driver had qualified sixth but will now start in P8 due to his infringement.

As per Sky Sports, the stewards highlighted:

"RUS was exiting the pits, preparing for an out lap. RUS went slow to create a gap for a clear lap but did not manage to stay completely to the left."

They added:

"As a result, the following car(s) could not overtake, as intended by the Race Director's instructions. This clearly violates the wording and spirit of item 14 of the Race Directors' Event Notes."

Interestingly Alpine teammates Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were also handed the same penalty and will start the race from P14 and P15 respectively for the main race on Sunday.

George Russell analyzes his qualifying session in Brazil

The Mercedes driver stated that the qualifying session in Interlagos on Friday evening was one of the craziest he has ever experienced given the climate change that the drivers endured in the Q3 session.

Speaking with F1.com, George Russell said:

"The weather today was absolutely crazy! I’ve never seen it change so drastically as that during Q3. I was really disappointed with my final push lap. I was sliding around and had no grip. I didn’t see that much rain on my visor, but I was one second off and I wanted to pit for new tires as I was confident that I would be last."

He added:

"We ended up P6 though which, while the lap was disappointing and frustrating, it’s not a bad place to start. The team did a great job, and the car has performed well here. We also know race pace is more important than single lap pace here. We will still be aiming to get on the podium."

George Russell has another opportunity in the sprint shootout to undo his mistake from qualifying and probably start a bit further ahead for the sprint race on Saturday.

It will be fascinating to see how he makes progress during the race on Sunday starting from P8 behind some faster cars ahead of him. A podium might be a reach for him given the struggles he has been experiencing in recent races.