Williams driver Carlos Sainz has been handed a five-place grid drop for Saturday's Azerbaijan GP in Baku as a punishment for speeding under yellow flags in qualifying.

At the end of Q3, Sainz was the last of three cars to be hindered by a yellow flag in Turn 3 for Lando Norris, who had gone off into the escape road. As Sainz approached the braking zone, Norris had already returned to the track, but the Spaniard still had to observe a local yellow into the 90-degree left-hander.

Sainz was told by his race engineer of the "yellow" ahead and asked for a "little lift" into the corner. But the FIA's race stewards found that the Williams driver only lifted in one of the two affected marshal sectors, four and five, and subsequently handed him a five-place grid drop.

Sainz argued that he had scrubbed off enough speed across the entire stretch, but as he set his best mini sector of the session in Marshalling Sector 4, the stewards disagreed with his approach.

"SAI explained that he intended to demonstrate a reduction in speed across the Yellow area as a whole," the stewards wrote in their explanation. "He stated that he did not consider it necessary to reduce speed on the straight and instead intended to demonstrate his response when approaching and exiting Turn 3.

"He considered this to be a 'global lift' covering the consecutive Yellow sectors. He further explained that the car which had originally caused the Yellow was no longer in the run-off area and that he expected the Yellow Flags to be withdrawn.

"The Stewards did not accept this interpretation. Where consecutive marshalling sectors are subject to Yellow Flag conditions, a driver must demonstrate a significant reaction to reduce speed in each individual Yellow marshalling sector. A reduction in a subsequent sector cannot retrospectively satisfy the requirement applicable to the preceding Yellow sector."

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

The stewards added: "The obligation is also not dependent on the driver’s own assessment of whether the original hazard remains present within a particular part of the Yellow sector. The telemetry clearly showed that SAI’s reaction to the Yellow occurred only in Marshalling Sector 5. There was no meaningful reduction in speed in Marshalling Sector 4 which could realistically be attributed to a response to the Yellow. Indeed, SAI recorded his fastest time of the session in Marshalling Sector 4."

As a result, Sainz received a five-place grid drop, demoting him from ninth to 14th on Saturday's starting grid. The penalty undoes some of the hard work Williams had done to make it back into Q3, having prepared an all-new, lightened chassis and a redesigned floor for the Baku event.

Cadillac driver Sergio Perez received a three-place grid drop for impeding McLaren's Oscar Piastri in Q1. Perez was on a preparation lap on the snaking section of Baku's 2km long straight, which had been the subject of debate because of the major closing speeds between cars conserving battery charge on a preparation lap and those pushing flat out.

Perez did not heed race director Rui Marques request to remain on the extreme left-hand side of the track to avoid dangerous close calls, with Piastri encountering Perez's Cadillac while going 50km/h faster and having to come off the throttle.

The stewards determined the incident wasn't particularly dangerous, but still punished Perez for impeding Piastri and for not obeying the race directors' express instructions.

However, Perez is still expected to start from his original 20th position as the two cars behind him, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, carry much bigger engine-related grid penalties.

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- The Motorsport.com Team