Alonso was on his final flying lap in Q2 and appeared to be on course to advance into the top 10 shootout when he encountered a slow hag on the final corner.
The two-time world champion then retired in the second part of qualifying in 14th place and was furious that Vettel’s accidental suspension effectively ruined the rest of his weekend.
After an investigation, the stewards concluded that Vettel had caused Alonso to abandon his final push round.
“Alonso was on his fast lap just before the end of Q2,” they stated.
“As he approached the last two corners (nine and ten), there was still a queue of three cars preparing for their final qualifying lap. Vettel was the last car in this row and hindered Alonso so that Alonso had to abandon his final qualifying lap. “
On the subject of matching items
Vettel, who has also added one penalty point to his license, falls back from eighth to eleventh place on the Austrian GP starting grid.
Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes and Carlos Sainz of Ferrari were also investigated for allegedly unnecessary slowdown in the second quarter, although both drivers were acquitted of any wrongdoing by the commissioners.
On the subject of matching items
“At the end of the second quarter, Bottas joined [turn nine] to create a gap for his last lap, ”stated the stewards. “This contradicts the event information of the race director 24.2a.
“However, given the situation where there were many drivers queuing on this part of the route, the Commissioners note that too many drivers have contributed to the situation and therefore the driver concerned is not fully to blame.”
The post Vettel gets a starting penalty for three places for obstructing Alonso in qualifying first appeared on monter-une-startup.
