Leclerc given three-place grid penalty for impeding Kvyat

Charles Leclerc has been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Daniil Kvyat during qualifying for the Styrian Grand Prix.

In horrendous wet conditions at the Red Bull Ring, Leclerc missed out on a place in the top-10 shoot-out by 0.083secs to Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel and was due to start 11th

But in Q2 Leclerc was found by the stewards to have baulked AlphaTauri's Kvyat, and with the penalty will now line up 14th.

The stewards, after reviewing video evidence, declared that: "The driver of car 16 had been adequately informed by the team after turn 7 that car 26 [Kvyat] would be approaching and that he should watch out for traffic.

"Following this, he accelerated on the approach to turn 9, but eventually slowed down again after spotting another car in front of him in turn 9 in order to prevent having his following lap affected.

"Furthermore, the driver of car 16 stated that it would have been impossible for him to see anything in his rearview mirrors due to the bad weather conditions.

"Video evidence and telemetry data clearly showed that the driver of car 26 was impeded by car 16 in turns 9 and 10.

"Although the weather conditions might have affected the visibility in the rearview mirrors and the driver had no intention of impeding another car, the stewards determine that the driver of car 16 must have been aware of car 26 approaching, could have reacted differently and therefore impose the penalty."

Leclerc has avoided a second potential penalty for not respecting red-flag regulations, with the stewards taking no further action on that matter.

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