George Russell receives Styrian Grand Prix boost for Williams after Yuki Tsunoda penalty

Williams’ George Russell will start inside the top ten after Yuki Tsunoda picked up a three-place grid penalty for impeding Valtteri Bottas during qualifying ahead of the Styrian Grand Prix.

The Williams driver had originally missed out on a top ten start by eight-thousandths of a second at the Red Bull Ring, despondent on the team radio afterwards, despite outqualifying a McLaren, Ferrari, and an Aston Martin.

The 23-year-old will also enjoy the added advantage over the rest of the top field with a choice of a free tyre choice ahead of the race, if it’s a dry start.

After a trip to the stewards, AlphaTauri driver Tsunoda was found to have blocked Bottas in Q3 with the Finn on a flying lap.

However the stewards accepted that the rookie had not been told by his team that there was a faster car behind, yet still concluded he “did impede car #77 unnecessarily”.

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“Car 22 [Tsunoda] had just completed a fast lap and had communication from the team that he was now on an in lap. The team did not warn car 22 of the approach of car 77 [Bottas] on a fast lap,” the stewards’ statement on the incident explained.

“Car 77 approached Car 22 at the entry to Turn 4. Car 22 was on the racing line and while he attempted to move off the racing line to the outside he did impede car 77 unnecessarily.

“It is the responsibility of every driver to be aware of faster cars when they are on a slow lap.

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“The team should have assisted the driver in being aware of the approaching faster car but such lack of communication is not an excuse for the driver.”

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after qualifying, Tsunoda felt he didn’t ‘ruin’ Bottas’ lap too much.

“There is still a gap between me and Valtteri and there’s a little bit of a crest before Turn 4,” he said.

“The point I saw him was already in the braking zone.

“It’s a mistake, but to be honest if I changed direction and went inside I think that would really be in the braking zone.

“So, I also expected that Valtteri was going to overtake me on the inside so it could have been a big shunt. There was nowhere to go so that’s why I went straight. It looks like there’s still a gap.

“I know it’s really difficult. I don’t think I ruined his lap too much.”

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