Sergio Perez is, at present, the only change to the starting grid for the Austrian Grand Prix sprint race.
The Mexican driver finished Friday’s qualifying with the fourth fastest time only to be investigated by the stewards for a possible track limits infringement in Q2.
They determined he had indeed done so at Turn 8, relegating the Red Bull driver to 13th on the grid.
“Perez left the track at Turn 8 on his last flying lap of Q2, just before the end of the session,” the report from the stewards stated.
“As this was not identified until the moment before Q3 started, the lap was not deleted before the start of Q3 and Perez started Q3. This is a consequence of having many situations to examine in each session. The video was clear and there is no doubt of the breach, which the team admitted.”
The #F1Sprint starting grid for Saturday ?
Sergio Perez has been excluded from Q3 for exceeding track limits at the end of Q2
His time has been deleted in Q2 and will now start from P13#AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/aYEJYMhlm0
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 8, 2022
They went onto explain why P13.
“The usual penalty is deleting the lap time concerned and the stewards order the same penalty here,” continued the report.
“However, as a consequence, the driver would not have proceeded into Q3 and therefore, in fairness to all the other competitors, the stewards order all the lap times for Q3 for the driver also are deleted.”
His team-mate Max Verstappen will line up on pole position ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz while Perez’s demotion elevates George Russell to the second row in fourth place.
The provisional starting grid
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing
Charles Leclerc Ferrari
Carlos Sainz Ferrari
George Russell Mercedes
Esteban Ocon Alpine
Kevin Magnussen Haas
Mick Schumacher Haas
Fernando Alonso Alpine
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri
Alex Albon Williams
Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo
Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri
Lando Norris McLaren
Daniel Ricciardo McLaren
Lance Stroll Aston Martin
Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo
Nicholas Latifi Williams
Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin
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