Charles Leclerc will start the Austrian Grand Prix in pole position after Lewis Hamilton was slapped with a three-place grid penalty.
The Brit was punished for “unnecessarily impeding” Kimi Raikkonen during yesterday’s qualifying.
The Finn was clearly frustrated as gestured towards Hamilton before later telling his team via radio that he’d been blocked.
He also received one penalty point on his licence for his troubles.
Meanwhile Ferrari prodigy Leclerc finished top of the pile while Max Verstappen has been moved up to second. Valtteri Bottas is in third.
“I’m extremely happy,” Leclerc said.
“We have been competitive since second practice but it is always difficult to do the lap at the time. It is just a shame for Seb. We should have two cars close to one and two.”
Sebastian Vettel failed to finish after experiencing problems with the air pressure line to the engine.
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Christian Horner, who is Red Bull’s team principal is hoping for a big day from Verstappen.
“It was a phenomenal lap by [Max Verstappen] hopefully we can convert it into a result – it’s a big race here for us, and we want to put on a good show today,” he said.
“I didn’t think we could win it last year here but we did. Ferrari look mighty they are very fast on the straights, Mercedes maybe the under performed in qualifying yesterday but it’s going to be a tough race especially with this heat.
“Max has the exuberant of youth and hes driving with such maturity and at such a level hes doing an incredible job. He’s enjoying the environment he’s in. He’s taken a step up to the more mature leadership role since Daniel left and the Max Verstappen in the last 12 months has been remarkable.”
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Hello and welcome to the Austrian Grand Prix blog.
We will take you all the way through the action from the Red Bull ring as Lewis Hamilton looks to increase his lead in the Drivers’ Championship.
Hamilton starts in fourth after being hit with a grid penalty with Charles Leclerc on pole and Sebastian Vettel in ninth.