No grid drop for Piastri in Singapore after Baku jump-start drama
Oscar Piastri will head to Marina Bay with a clean slate. Despite being handed a five-second time penalty for a jump start in Azerbaijan, the McLaren driver won’t carry a grid penalty into the Singapore Grand Prix after retiring before he could serve it.
Piastri’s Baku run lasted barely half a lap. Starting ninth, he crept forward before the lights went out, triggered anti-stall as he tried to correct it, and was swamped by the pack. Moments later, a locked brake sent him skating off at Turn 5 and into retirement. The stewards promptly issued a five-second penalty for jumping the start. Fernando Alonso, who reacted to Piastri’s movement, received the same sanction and took it at his pit stop. Piastri, of course, never reached his.
That left one question dangling over the flight to Singapore: would stewards convert an unserved in-race penalty into a grid drop for the next round? The short answer is no — not for a single five-second penalty.
Here’s why. The Sporting Regulations are clear on the offence. Move after the four-second light comes on during the start procedure, before the start signal is given (Article 48.1 a), and you’re liable for a sanction under Article 54.3 — typically five seconds, 10 seconds, or a drive-through. They’re also clear on the remedy if a driver can’t serve that penalty because they retire: the stewards may impose a grid penalty at the next race.
But “may” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, and this is where the sport’s own guidance tightens things up. The Guidelines for Penalties and Points — drawn up with the teams to bring consistency — spell out that a single, unserved five-second penalty due to retirement won’t be converted into a grid drop. Multiple penalties? Different story. One five-second? No carry-over. That’s the line, and the stewards are sticking to it.
Practically, it means there’s no Singapore hangover for Piastri. He’ll start wherever he qualifies around a circuit that punishes hesitation and rewards precision. Given how ragged Baku turned for him — the fluffed launch, the anti-stall, the early exit — a clean weekend in Singapore is exactly what McLaren will want.
It’s also a small but significant reminder about the realities of modern F1 starts. Sensors are unforgiving, and so are the cameras. Even minimal movement before lights-out is enough to trigger a penalty, and trying to rescue a creeping car can cascade into anti-stall chaos. Alonso’s mirrored sanction underlines how knock-on effects are handled: the driver who moves gets penalized; the driver who reacts does too. Cold comfort for either, but consistent with how the rules are written and applied.
From a championship perspective, the damage for Piastri is limited to the points he didn’t score in Baku. There’s no extra bite coming in the form of a grid drop. With the calendar heading into a demanding stretch and Singapore offering little in the way of easy overtaking, that matters. It keeps the title picture as it was when the chequered flag fell in Azerbaijan: tighter than McLaren would like, but still in Piastri’s hands.
One final note on the process. The “no conversion for a single five-second penalty” policy isn’t some off-the-cuff decision. It’s codified guidance intended to keep penalties proportionate, avoid double punishment for a single misdemeanour, and give teams and drivers a predictable framework. You can debate whether a jump-start should ever be only five seconds — plenty would argue for harsher treatment — but once that’s the call, the follow-through is consistent.
So, file this one under common sense applied correctly. Piastri made the kind of start-line error that usually earns a sting, paid for it with a DNF and a lost afternoon, and won’t be paying again on Saturday in Singapore. The rest will be up to his right foot, his clutch bite point, and his nerve when the lights finally do go out.
