Vettel hit with three-place grid penalty for US Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel's impossible task of overhauling Lewis Hamilton in the championship will be even harder on Sunday after the Ferrari driver was handed a three-place grid penalty for speeding during a red flag period in FP1.

The stewards summoned Vettel between FP1 and FP2 and deemed the German to have slowed insufficiently for gravel on the circuit.

In a statement issued by the race stewards, they clarified that Vettel had indeed been driving too quickly under the red flag conditions and applied a three-place penalty for the race as they had done previously for similar incidents.