Austrian GP grid: Lewis Hamilton fourth, not fifth, amid mass penalties
Hamilton drops from second to fourth on Sunday's grid despite three-place penalty; Six of the 20 drivers have penalties with only two grid positions staying the same from the end of qualifying
Sunday 30 June 2019 14:28, UK
Lewis Hamilton has lost only two of his three penalty places on the Austrian GP grid after the FIA confirmed the provisional starting order for Sunday's race.
Hamilton qualified second fastest at the Red Bull Ring but was later given a three-place grid demotion for blocking Kimi Raikkonen during Q1 - and so it had originally been expected that he would slip to fifth in the order.
However, in the FIA's final collation of the order on Saturday night, Hamilton gained one place back owing to the fact Haas' Kevin Magnussen, the original fifth-placed qualifier, also had a grid drop to factor in.
Sky Sports F1's Rachel Brookes explained on Twitter how the complex, and somewhat unintuitive, grid-forming process works when there are penalties to be applied:
Magnusson gained a five-place penalty earlier on Saturday for an unscheduled gearbox change and does serve the full sanction, so drops to 10th.
Lando Norris, Kimi Raikkonen, Antonio Giovinazzi, Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel all gain one place as a result.
Charles Leclerc starts on pole for Ferrari, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen promoted to Hamilton's old front-row slot in second. Bottas and Hamilton form an all-Mercedes second row ahead of what is set to be a thrilling battle for victory.
Sunday's Austrian GP starts at 2.10pm on Sky F1, with build-up from 12.30pm.
Who else has Austrian GP penalties?
For the first time this season, the Austrian GP grid features a host of changes from the final qualifying result owing to various penalties.
Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon are all talking engine penalties and drop to 15th, 19th and 20th respectively.
Williams' George Russell was also punished for blocking in Q1 and, like Hamilton, gained a three-place punishment from stewards. He was set to line-up in 18th, owing to greater penalties for Sainz and Albon, but will instead start from the pit-lane as Williams have changed his front wing.
Only polesitter Leclerc and 11th-placed Romain Grosjean will start in the places they qualified.
Provisional Austrian GP Grid
1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
5. Lando Norris, McLaren
6. Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo
7. Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo
8. Pierre Gasly, Red Bull
9. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
10. Kevin Magnussen, Haas
11. Romain Grosjean, Haas
12. Daniel Ricciardo, Renault
13. Sergio Perez, Racing Point
14. Lance Stroll, Racing Point
15. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault
16. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso
17. Robert Kubica, Williams
18. Alexander Albon, Toro Rosso
19. Carlos Sainz, McLaren
Pit-lane. George Russell, Williams
The whole Austrian GP weekend is live only on Sky Sports F1. Sunday's race begins at 2.10pm with build-up from 12.30pm. Find out more about Formula 1 on Sky Sports
