Lewis Hamilton loses front row start after Red Bull protest

Lewis Hamilton appears to be starting the Austrian Grand Prix from fifth position after Red Bull was successful in having him punished for a yellow flag infraction he was originally cleared for.

Though still to be officially confirmed in FIA documents, Hamilton is lining up on the grid fifth and is shown in that position on official timing screens

Coming just an hour before the start of the race, Red Bull requested ‘a hearing to review a decision (document 33)’, which stated on Saturday evening that no further action would be deemed necessary by stewards.

Hamilton originally stood accused of failing to slow for yellow flags during Q3 when Valtteri Bottas went off directly in front of him on his final lap, with the Briton setting a personal best time to secure second on the grid.

At the time stewards agreed he was given conflicting messages from the marshals and signage.

“The driver mentioned that he passed a green light panel in turn five,” the communication read. “Video footage confirmed that there have been yellow flags and green light panels at the same time and therefore conflicting signals were shown to the driver. Taking this into account, the stewards decided to take no further action.”

However, Red Bull presented new video evidence – which was even shared by the official F1 Twitter channel on Saturday (see below) - which appeared to show Hamilton clearly accelerating through a yellow flag zone.

“Following a petition to review decision 33 taken after Qualifying, the Stewards acknowledged that the on-board footage of car 44 represents a significant new element that had not been available to the Stewards in the hearing on Saturday and therefore reviewed the case.

“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 44 (Hamilton) and the team representative and have reviewed the new video evidence and telemetry evidences.

The new video footage clearly shows that a yellow light panel was flashing on the left side of the track in Turn 5. A green light panel was flashing at the end of marshalling sector 9. Taking into account these facts, the Stewards determine that decision 33 will be reversed and the above mentioned penalty is being imposed.”

As such, Hamilton will start in fifth position, elevating Verstappen up to the front row alongside Bottas, while Lando Norris improves his career-best qualifying to start a brilliant third for McLaren. Alex Albon now starts in fourth position.