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Vettel to start last on Aston Martin debut following grid penalty

Sebastian Vettel will start his first race for Aston Martin at the back of the field on Sunday after being handed a five-place grid drop and three penalty points at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Stewards found the four-times Formula One world champion, who has moved from Ferrari, failed to respect double yellow warning flags at turn one in Saturday's qualifying.

The 33-year-old German had qualified 18th but drops to last after the penalty.

Stewards said in a statement that Vettel had not abandoned his lap when Russian Nikita Mazepin spun ahead of him during the first qualifying phase.