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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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Toto Wolff says it’s ‘too early’ to sacrifice Valtteri Bottas in fight
“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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