Motor racing-Vettel handed three place grid drop on his birthday

Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel was handed a three place grid drop on his 34th birthday on Saturday for impeding Alpine's Fernando Alonso in Austrian Grand Prix qualifying. His demotion lifts Williams' George Russell to eighth on the grid instead, with Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz also moving up a place.

Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel was handed a three-place grid drop on his 34th birthday on Saturday for impeding Alpine's Fernando Alonso in Austrian Grand Prix qualifying. The Formula One stewards also handed out one penalty point for the incident, with double world champion Alonso having to abort his flying lap in the second phase of qualifying and ending up 14th on the starting grid.

Four-times world champion Vettel qualified eighth and will still start ahead of Alonso. His demotion lifts Williams' George Russell to eighth on the grid instead, with Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz also moving up a place.