Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton had qualified second behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at Austria GP on Saturday, but the Brit was given a three-place grid drop for the incident with Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen, which happened early in Q1.
This penalty allowed Max Verstappen to start the race from second place on the grid, while Valtteri Bottas will start third, while Lando Norris will start at the wheel of his McLaren since fourth place.
“The stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from the driver of car 7 [Kimi Raikonnen] and the driver of 44 [Lewis Hamilton] and the team representatives and determined that car 44 unnecessarily impeded car 7 at turn 3.” FIA said in a statement.
“Car 44 had just come out of the pits and was informed of the cars approaching, including car 7. Although car 44 tried to take evasive action when became aware of car 7 approaching on a fast lap, it was not sufficient to avoid impeding car 7, which had to then abort the lap.
“Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA international Sporting Code and Article 9.1.1 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.” FIA added.
The five-time world champion also received a penalty point on his Super License in addition to his three positions on the grid. However, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff accepted the penalty, but backed the driver.
“The rulebook says if you impede somebody and it’s clear, then you get a three-place penalty. I think it’s not the driver’s fault. He didn’t see him. These things happen and there is precedent for it. From our perspective we have to accept the penalty.” Wolff said.
“You see how crowded it is, there are many people out there that are trying to do laps. When there are 20 cars these things can happen.
“The precedent is that it’s been penalised. If the precedent would be that it’s not been penalised, because for example it hasn’t really changed the result for the driver, then I think we should look at it. But the rules are very clear at the moment.” Wolff added.
