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Hamilton demoted to fifth after Red Bull protest
Lewis Hamilton will start the Austrian Grand Prix from fifth on the grid after Red Bull successfully appealed a lack of penalty for an incident in qualifying.
The defending champion was investigated by the stewards on Saturday night for failing to slow for yellow flags on his final Q3 run, having been following Valtteri Bottas when his teammate went off at Turn 4. The stewards initially decided to take no further action after stating both green and yellow flags were shown to Hamilton.
However, Red Bull submitted a 360-degree camera view from Hamilton’s car that showed him passing a yellow flag on the exit of Turn 4, and the stewards accepted that “the additional video evidence represents a significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the parties at the time of the competition concerned.”
The stewards admitted that there was no on-board footage available to them at the time of the initial hearing on Saturday night. The 360-degree camera is a Formula 1 editorial offering.
As a result, the stewards then accepted Red Bull’s petition to re-assess the original incident, and with the additional footage opted to give Hamilton a three-place grid penalty.
“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton) and the team representative and have reviewed the new video evidence and telemetry evidences.
“The new video footage clearly shows that a yellow light panel was flashing on the left side of the track in Turn 5. A green light panel was flashing at the end of marshalling sector 9.”
Hamilton is also handed two penalty points for the incident, giving him five in total for the 12-month period. While Valtteri Bottas still starts from pole position, Max Verstappen is promoted to second place ahead of Lando Norris in third, Alex Albon in fourth and Hamilton in fifth.
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Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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