Pierre Gasly has been handed a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Lance Stroll during qualifying.

Stroll was on a timed lap in Q1 while Gasly was on an in lap and, on the approach to Turn 15, remained on the racing line at a slow speed, requiring the Canadian to move off line in order to pass.

Gasly explained to the stewards that he had no functioning radio at the time, that he had been attempting radio checks and that he expected another driver (Antonelli), to remain behind him rather than overtake, as he understood the Mercedes driver not to be on a timed lap.

The Alpine team representative pointed out that there was no radio warning to Gasly because of a technical issue with FOM equipment, which was confirmed by FOM.

The stewards accepted that these were unfortunate circumstances and took into account that the driver was left without the usual radio warning from the team. The Aston Martin team representative also confirmed that, in his view, the circumstances were unfortunate.

However, the absence of a radio warning does not remove the driver's responsibility to avoid impeding another car. Gasly remained at a slow speed on the racing line and the evidence showed that he had information available to him, including the dashboard display, to appreciate Stroll was approaching on a timed lap.

In those circumstances, the stewards determined that Gasly unnecessarily impeded Stroll and therefore imposed the standard penalty of a 3-place grid drop.

Having qualified 12th, the Frenchman will therefore start from 15th, thereby promoting Nico Hulkenberg and Oliver Bearman.

Elsewhere, Racing Bulls were fined €5,000 for the unsafe release of Arvid Lindblad.

The youngster was released into the path of Oscar Piastri, requiring the Australian to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

The Racing Bulls representative acknowledged that the release was the result of an error of judgement by the team and accepted responsibility for the unsafe release.

Consistent with previous similar incidents during qualifying sessions, and taking into account that the driver was merely following the team's instructions, the stewards imposed a fine of €5,000.

Check out our Saturday gallery from Silverstone here.