Lewis Hamilton Austrian Grand Prix grid penalty confirmed for blocking Kimi Raikkonen

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton confirms Austria grid penalty

He blocked Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying.

Matthew Scott

Saturday 29 June 2019 17:53 Updated: 20:38

Lewis Hamilton was hit with a three-place grid penalty for the Austrian Grand Prix after being found to have unfairly blocked Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying.

Hamilton qualified second-fastest at the Red Bull Ring, but will start Sunday's race in fourth.

The Mercedes man was caught out on a slow lap in Q1 as Raikkonen caught him at Turn 2, Hamilton trying to rectify the situation by hitting the throttle and going off-track.

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An unimpressed Raikkonen passed him with a one-fingered salute, and the stewards were similarly unimpressed, punishing Hamilton even though the Alfa Romeo man made it through the segment and to sixth on the grid.

Looks like we can confirm this, then!#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/mNck6lgKuV
— GPFans Global (@GPFansGlobal) June 29, 2019

The stewards' report said: "Car 44 had just come out of the pits and was informed of the cars approaching, including car 7. Although car 44 tried to take evasive action when he became aware of car 7 approaching on a fast lap, it was not sufficient to avoid impeding car 7, which had to then abort the lap."

Hamilton and Raikkonen will now start the race alongside each other once again on the third row, with Max Verstappen promoted to the front row alongside pole-sitter Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas also gains a place up to third.