The stewards' decision means Mercedes driver George Russell will start from pole position for the second race weekend in a row, with Verstappen lining up second.

Verstappen was penalised for "driving unnecessarily slowly," a breach of Article 33.4 of the sporting regulations, as he prepared for his pole position lap.

By driving slowly on the racing line he forced Russell to take evasive action as the Mercedes driver also prepared for his final Q3 attempt.

Russell came across the slow-moving Red Bull in Turn 12 and dipped a wheel in one of the gravel strips as he adjusted his line to driver around Verstappen.

"I ended up going through the gravel, all over the floor, through the floor," he said after the session. "So it felt like the floor was scraping over that kerb and through the gravel.

"So I hope it didn't damage it. Maybe that's the reason why we didn't improve [on the final lap]. I don't know.

"But it was a bit of a hairy one, two corners before we start the lap."