Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button will complete an all-world champion back row in Spielberg, with Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo starting 15th and 18th after their respective grid penalties were applied.
Alonso and Button qualified 15th and 17th respectively but were both handed 25-place grid penalties after McLaren elected to change several elements of their Honda power units. As neither driver can serve the penalty in full, Alonso must serve a drive-through penalty in the first three laps of the race and Button a 10-second stop-go penalty.
Kvyat and Ricciardo meanwhile received 10-place grid penalties for taking on their fifth Renault engines of the year. Kvyat qualified in eighth so was able to take his penalty in full, but Ricciardo – who qualified 14th – was handed an additional five-second time penalty.
Thus the provisional starting order will be: Hamilton, Rosberg; Vettel, Massa; Hulkenberg, Bottas; Verstappen, Nasr; Grosjean, Maldonado; Ericsson, Sainz; Perez, Raikkonen; Kvyat, Merhi; Stevens, Ricciardo; Alonso, Button.
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