Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel has been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Fernando Alonso in Qualifying on Saturday ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix.
The stewards came to their decision after Vettel got in the way of Alonso ahead of the Alpine driver’s final flying lap of Q2, meaning the Spaniard had to back out of his attempt and ultimately start today’s race from P14.
Speaking after the Quali session, Fernando said it was “very frustrating to lose a lot of points tomorrow.
“It’s very confusing. It has to be common sense, it has to be harsh penalties because it’s not right what happened today.
“Now we have a race that we can forget starting 14th. It’s over.”
Later, Sebastian explained the situation from his point of view and said; “I only saw him very late, so not much that I could have done.
“I think it’s the fault of the drivers ahead that just keep jumping the queue, keep jumping the queue and not what we agreed on.”
Today’s top ten on grid is as follows:
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- Lando Norris, McLaren
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
- Pierre Gasly, AlpahTauri
- Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
- George Russell, Williams
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
- Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
