British GP: George Russell given Silverstone grid penalty for tagging Carlos Sainz in F1 Sprint

George Russell has lost three positions and been shuffled out of the top 10 on the British GP grid after being penalised for a tangle with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in Saturday’s F1 Sprint.

The Williams driver drops from ninth to 12th as a result of the three-place grid penalty imposed after being found to have forced Sainz off the track on the first lap of the sprint.

The stewards’ verdict read: “Cars 63 [Russell] and 55 [Sainz] approached turn 6 with Car 63 on the inside, in the middle of the track, and Car 55 on the outside.

“Car 63 locked the front brakes briefly and then understeered towards the edge of the track at the exit of the turn and contacted Car 55, which was forced off the circuit and on to the grass. Car 63 is judged at fault for the incident.

“The Stewards note that breaches of the regulations of this sort in a race normally result in time penalties, which are scaled based on normal Grand Prix race lengths.

“Both because of the shorter length of Sprint Qualifying and because it is used to establish the grid for the race, the Stewards feel that grid position penalties, as imposed here, are more appropriate.”

More to follow…

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