Norris loses Zandvoort F3 pole to Ilott after penalty

The Carlin-run McLaren protege is one of eight drivers who have been issued with a two-place grid penalty and two penalty points on their licence.

Norris therefore drops to third on the grid for the offence, which came after David Beckmann spun on the final lap of qualifying at the Turn 10 left-hander.

The officials’ verdict for all nine drivers read: “Having considered the matter extensively, the stewards determined that he did not make a sufficient decrease in speed under yellow flag conditions.

“The stewards determine that this is a major safety issue, especially when marshals are possibly working trackside.”

Norris’s penalty means that fellow Britons Ilott and Jake Hughes move up onto the front row. 

Ferdinand Habsburg, championship leader Maximilian Gunther, Nikita Mazepin and Guan Yu Zhou – who qualified fourth to seventh – were given the same penalty, meaning that Beckmann and Harrison Newey vault four positions to fourth and fifth on the grid.

Ralf Aron, Marino Sato and Ameya Vaidyanathan were the other three given the two-place penalty, Aron’s dropping him out of the top 10 in favour of Joel Eriksson. 

But Eriksson and Ilott – both of whom set green sector times under the yellow flag – were also found guilty of the offence, although their penalty is to lose the relevant lap time. 

In Eriksson’s case this was his quickest lap, demoting him to 10th on the grid for race two and 13th for race three.

Ilott’s was his second-fastest, meaning he drops from fourth to seventh on the grid for race three.

Eriksson was also given two penalty points on his licence, although Ilott escaped this punishment, with the stewards declaring that “he made a concerted effort and a visible and audible lift off the throttle”.