Red Bull have successfully appealed the stewards’ decision not to penalise Lewis Hamilton for failing to slow for a waved yellow flag in qualifying on Saturday, with the Briton given a three-place grid penalty.
The six-time world champion, who qualified 0.012 seconds behind the Finn in second, was originally allowed to keep his lap time after the stewards concluded that “there have been yellow flags and green light panels at the same time
and therefore conflicting signals were shown to the driver”.
However an appeal from their championship rivals, the stewards have announced a reversal of their decision.
“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 (Lewis 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 a result, Hamilton will start fifth, with Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon set to move up to second and fourth respectively.