Five-place grid drop for Antonio Giovinazzi at Styrian Grand Prix – PlanetF1

Antonio Giovinazzi will start the Styrian Grand Prix from the back of the grid after a new gearbox was fitted to his Alfa Romeo car.
The Italian kissed the barrier during Q1 which was run in treacherous conditions at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday. He lost control of his Alfa Romeo at the final corner and slid across the track with the back of his car making contact with the wall.
Giovinazzi was able to keep the car going and return to the pits, but not before bits of his car went spewing on to the wet track.
As a precaution, the Alfa Romeo team has fitted a new gearbox which automatically results in a five-place grid penalty. As Giovinazzi was due to start P19 anyway, he will actually only drop one place to P20. Romain Grosjean moves to P19.
After his qualifying session, Giovinazzi said: “Its been a difficult session, even though at the beginning of the session we were really strong. We needed something special on the final lap, I tried to push as much as I could to get the position but unfortunately I went onto the kerb at the second last corner, lost the rear a little bit and that was it.
“Its a shame as I was improving my time by nearly a second and I think I would have made it to Q2. Sunday may be dry so we have completely different conditions to deal with. We start from the back, like last week, but just as we did last Sunday we will need to make the race work for us. We know we have the pace to recover so we wont give up.”
Giovinazzi joins Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc on the penalty list. They both have three-place grid drops.
Norris received his for overtaking during yellow flag conditions in Friday practice; Leclerc for impeding during qualifying.
Updated grid:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:19.2732 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1.216s3 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1.398s4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1.428s5 Esteban Ocon Renault 1.649s6 Alex Albon Red Bull 1.738s7 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1.755s8 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1.919s9 Lando Norris McLaren 1.652s10 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 2.378s11 George Russell Williams 1:19.63612 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1:19.64513 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri 1:19.71714 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:19.62815 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:20.21116 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1:21.37217 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1:21.60718 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:21.75919 Romain Grosjean Haas no time20 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1:21.831
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