Leclerc hit by GRID PENALTY at Austrian GP

Charles Leclerc has been handed a three-place grid penalty for the Sprint race in Austria after being adjudged to have impeded Oscar Piastri in qualifying.

The Ferrari man brought his car home in sixth place, around eight-tenths behind Max Verstappen as he struggled to extract maximum pace out of his car.

His task for the Sprint, which takes place later on Saturday has been made even more difficult now after being handed the penalty, relegating him to ninth.

The incident in question came on the penultimate corner when Leclerc was slowing down and preparing to enter the pit-lane.

McLaren's Piastri was on a hot lap just behind but had to slow down and take slight evasive action to avoid colliding with Leclerc's car, before telling his crew down the radio that he was "impeded".

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The stewards noted the incident and after an investigation have sided with the McLaren team meaning Leclerc has more work to do in the race.

In the explanation, they said that Leclerc was not the sole cause of the incident, adding he was insufficiently warned by his team to get out of the way

The stewards' verdict said: "Although not entirely the fault of the driver, and the team’s lack of communication was the major contributing factor, a grid position penalty must be imposed as Car 81 (Piastri) was “unnecessarily impeded”, because there is no doubt that the situation could have been avoided."

It is not the first time Leclerc has faced the wrath of the stewards this year after suffering a similar penalty in qualifying fo his home Monaco Grand Prix.

On that occasion he impeded Lando Norris coming out of the high-speed tunnel.

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