03/07/2021
NEWS STORY
Sebastian Vettel has been handed a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Fernando Alonso during qualifying.
Despite the FIA warning that drivers were not to slow in Turns 9 and 10 in order to create a space ahead for the hot laps, as Fernando Alonso completed his final flying lap in Q2 today he encountered Sebastian Vettel who was the last driver in a train of cars.
As the Spaniard approached the last two corners there was still a queue of 3 cars preparing for their final qualifying lap.
Vettel was the last car in this line and impeded Alonso and as a result, the Spaniard had to abort his final qualifying lap and thereby missed the cut.
"We lost the opportunity to be P5 - P6 on the grid and a different race," the Spaniard told Sky Sports. "Now I guess we will not score points tomorrow.
"Whatever penalty they give to the others, this is never enough," he added. "It's the way it is.
"I think it was very badly managed by the people in front. I'm disappointed because I think we had the potential today. It was our best car probably of the season in qualifying and we didn't maximize it.
"It is very confusing, because I think a part of the talk of the rules that they are in place, it has to be common sense," he continued. "It has to be harsh penalties, because it is not right what happened today.
"It is very, very frustrating to lose a lot of points tomorrow. And now we have a race that we can't forget that starting 14th is over. So another weekend, with a little bit of a strange situation for us."
"I only saw him very late," said Vettel. "So not much that I could have done.
"I think it's the fault of the drivers ahead that just keep jumping the queue," he added. "I don't think that is right, and not what we sort of agreed on."
Demoting the German 3 grid places and handing him a penalty point, the stewards have summoned the two drivers who were running ahead of Vettel, Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Spielberg, here.