There has been drama less than an hour before the Austrian Grand Prix begins, as stewards handed out reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton a three-place penalty. Following the review, conducted at 11 am after a request from Red Bull, it was discovered that the Mercedes driver had not slowed down to detect yellow flags during qualifying, leaving him fifth in the grid and promoting Max Verstappen to P2.
Hamilton was called to the stewards on Saturday when it seemed that the speed of the yellow flags did not slow down after his teammate Valtteri Bottas went off the track in the third part of the session, but after reviewing the footage, the British He was free of irregularities and followed His second place.
But on Sunday, Red Bull, whose driver Max Verstappen qualified third, requested a review of the decision, with Hamilton summoning the stewards one hour and 25 minutes before the start of the race.
Delegates then revealed that new on-board video evidence had emerged, showing “clearly” that Hamilton drove on a yellow flag signal and failed to slow down.
“Following a request to review decision 33 made after Qualifying, the Stewards acknowledged that the on-board footage of Car 44 represents a significant new item that had not been available to the Stewards at the hearing on Saturday and therefore , reviewed the case, “said the butlers
“The Stewards listened to the driver of Auto 44 (Lewis Hamilton) and the team representative and have reviewed the new video and telemetry tests.
“The new video clearly shows that a yellow light panel was flashing on the left side of the track at Turn 5. A green light panel was flashing at the end of qualifying sector 9. Given these facts, the Stewards determined that decision. 33 will be reversed and the aforementioned penalty will be imposed. ”
They added: “During the initial hearing, the Stewards did not make available video footage of the 44th car on board of the Stewards. Aston Martin Red Bull submitted 360-degree camera footage of the 44th car, including the 44th passing of the 44th car. through the relevant section of the track. “
Watch the video above to watch the incident in question and follow our live coverage of the race right here.
