Russell lands three-place grid drop for impeding Kvyat

George Russell has been given a three-place grid drop for impeding Daniil Kvyat during Q1 of qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Williams driver appeared to be caught out towards the end of a slow lap, building up for his final Q1 run, when he was not warned about Kvyat who was on a fast lap approaching behind him at the penultimate corner.

The Toro Rosso driver was forced into taking avoiding action, going off track around the outside of the penultimate corner, which wrecked his lap and saw him drop out of qualifying in Q1 down in 18^th place.

Following an FIA Stewards investigation Russell has been given a three-place grid drop, which will effectively only be a one-place grid drop after qualifying 19^th, while he has picked up his first penalty point on his F1 licence.

“The Stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from the driver of car 26 (Daniil Kvyat) and the driver of car 63 (George Russell) and the team representatives and determined that car 63 unnecessarily impeded car 26 after the apex of Turn 9,” an FIA statement read.

“The Stewards noted that car 63 was not given the requisite warning by the team in a timely fashion about car 26 approaching on a fast lap.

“Furthermore, the situation was compounded by car 23 overtaking car 63 during a slow lap, just before the incident in question.”

The FIA Stewards decision is likely to set a precedent for the incident involving Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen earlier in Q1, which saw the Mercedes driver impede the Finn at Turn 3.

Hamilton has provisionally qualified in second place but has expressed his concern over his qualifying position ahead of his FIA Stewards investigation.