Lando Norris has learned of his punishment by the FIA after being placed under investigation at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver started on pole position on what looked likely to be a pivotal day in the Drivers' Championship battle in Interlagos, with title rival Max Verstappen down in 17th.
But Norris lost the lead at turn one to George Russell, and he was out of luck in deciding to pit for fresh intermediates when others, including Verstappen, stayed out.
A red flag was then waved for a crash involving Franco Colapinto, leaving Verstappen in second and Norris fourth.
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Two safety car restarts ensued, with Verstappen passing Esteban Ocon for the race lead and taking a superb victory.
His rival, meanwhile, finished in sixth after locking up on the restart and going off the track, dropping down to seventh.
Verstappen now leads the championship by 63 points with three Grands Prix and one sprint race remaining, and is now in a strong position to win his fourth consecutive title.
The afternoon threatened to be even worse for Norris, who was placed under investigation for a start procedure infringement.
Lance Stroll beached his Aston Martin in the gravel on the formation lap, leading to the aborted start - which was indicated by yellow flashing lights by the side of the start/finish straight.
But Norris, and several other frontrunners including second-placed starter George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda, set off for another formation lap before the panel flashed green.
However, although the Brit has now received his punishment, it is not as severe as might have been feared.
The FIA have fined Norris €5,000 and given him a driving reprimand for the incident, which will be carried with him for the remainder of the 2024 season.
Russell was given the same punishment as his countryman, but Tsunoda and Liam Lawson escaped with no further action as the FIA deemed their actions to have been 'influenced by the driver(s) ahead and as such (they) were not predominantly responsible for the breach'.
A statement on Norris' punishment reads: "The FIA Formula One Race Director initiated the Aborted Start procedure indicating that the drivers should not leave the grid.
"This message was necessary as there was a car off track in Turn 4 (STR) that needed to be recovered.
"Although the signal was appropriately given and the light panel illuminated as prescribed, and the teams notified by the messaging system, the driver left the grid and proceeded on a lap that he assumed to be an extra formation lap.
"As the driver was on the front row of the grid this triggered following drivers to take similar action.
"At some point, the Race Director realising that for practical reasons all cars would now need to do an extra formation lap gave an instruction to the teams for all cars to proceed and return to the grid to follow the correct aborted start procedure.
"In the opinion of the stewards, the driver NOR precipitated the action of the drivers on the grid directly behind him."
Topics: Lando Norris, Formula 1, McLaren
Ryan Smart