Fontana penalized for GP3 start crash

Alex Fontana has been punished for triggering the startline crash in the first Red Bull Ring GP3 race on Saturday.

ART driver Fontana was three-abreast for third place with Manor team-mates Dean Stoneman and Patrick Kujala going into Turn 1 when the trio made contact.

Both Stoneman and Fontana had to retire as a result of the incident, with Arden's Robert Visoiu also ploughing into Stoneman's parked car. The stewards judged Fontana to have been at fault and imposed a five-place grid penalty for Sunday's race.

As his early retirement means he would have been at the back for race two anyway, Fontana will have to start from the pitlane.

The same applies to Alfonso Celis Jr., who was penalized for a collision that eliminated his Status car and Jenzer's Adderly Fong later on.