Lewis Hamilton penalized three places but will start 4th
Found guilty of impeding Kimi Räikkönen in Q1, Lewis Hamilton received a three-place grid penalty. But thanks to the magic of penalties imposed by the FIA, he will start 4th instead of 5th.
Even the teams are losing track! Thus, when the stewards in Austria decided to impose a three-place penalty on Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes stated that the British driver would start from 5th place, which was logical since he had not done better than second in qualifying.
Except for the FIA, 2+3=4! Indeed, Kevin Magnussen, who was in the 5th position on the grid, also received a five-place penalty for a gearbox change before qualifying. The Dane thus finds himself in 10th place, leaving the 4th place vacant. This spot is therefore inherited by Lewis Hamilton. The second row of the grid will thus be monopolized by the Silver Arrows.
To return to the reason for this penalty, we have to go back to Q1 when Lewis Hamilton did not move aside quickly enough approaching turn 3 as Kimi Räikkönen was coming at full speed during a fast lap. The championship leader thus acknowledged his mistake and did not seek to appeal the decision. On the front row, we will have Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen for a duel that promises to be epic.
From our special correspondent in Spielberg
