Austria Grand Prix Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton Bags Three-Place Penalty As Charles Leclerc Takes Pole Position

Charles Leclerc delivered a spectacular performance at the final qualifying session of the Austria Grand Prix and claimed his second pole position of the season.

The Monegasque dominated the race to set a new track record of 1:03.003 seconds and beat Lewis Hamilton who took second place in 0.259 seconds later than Charles.

Unfortunately, Hamilton forfeited his position for three-place penalty served him for obstructing Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying and will start off the grid in fourth place in the final race on Sunday.

As Hamilton dropped to fourth, Max Verstappen moved up to the second place and Valtteri Bottas will take the third place. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel suffered mechanical issues during the session. The German finished in ninth position leaving his chance to make podium position in the final in doubt.

After the race, steward ruled that despite Hamilton's effort to dodge penalty "when he became aware of car seven [Kimi Raikkonen] approaching on a fast lap, it was not sufficient to avoid car seven."

Speaking on the penalty, Hamilton said on Instagram that he had no problem admitting to his fault saying it "was a mistake on my behalf and I take full responsibility for it."