Norris out in Q1, Gasly disqualified

Fine for Williams

Williams, meanwhile, has to pay 5,000 euros for the unsafe release of Albon. Because no other driver was affected, there was no higher penalty. Here is the verdict in full:

“The car was left in the garage with the engine cooling fan still fitted. The car was stopped at the pit exit at the first opportunity and subsequently the driver removed the fan and threw it overboard where it was subsequently recovered by a marshal. Albon then drove off and pitted without setting an additional time.”

“If a car is released in an unsafe condition, the general expectation is to simply stop at the nearest safe location. It is not normal to throw parts overboard that must be retrieved by a marshal. However, in this case, the team and driver's actions prevented other drivers' qualifying runs from being affected, as a yellow flag would have been required had the car stayed where it was or entered a run-off area. In this unique case, throwing the part overboard avoided the yellow flag. As discussed at the hearing, this is the 'least bad option.'”

“If any of these actions had affected other competitors or created a further unsafe situation, the stewards would have taken further action. However, in this case we are imposing the usual penalty for release in an unsafe condition of £5,000.”

Gasly disqualified

Let's start with the Frenchman. As expected, a technical violation only results in disqualification. He is allowed to take part in the race, but he has to start last. All the drivers behind him therefore move up one position on the starting grid.

Here is the complete statement in full:

“The Technical Delegate reported that Car 10 exceeded the permitted fuel mass flow of 100 kg/h on the last timed lap of Q2.”

“The team representatives explained that there was an unexpected technical defect of short duration which temporarily increased the fuel mass flow more than expected. The FIA ​​technical staff agreed on the cause.”

“The fact that the fuel mass flow was greater than the limit at that moment was not disputed by the competitor.”

“The competitor demonstrated to the stewards that the technical error resulted in a slower lap time and that no performance advantage was achieved at that moment. Therefore, they argue, this should be taken into account as a mitigating circumstance. They also pointed out that the great rarity of violations of this article shows that this is not part of their strategy and that the extent of the transition simply exceeded the margin they maintain to prevent a stranding.”

“The usual penalty for a breach of the technical regulations is disqualification. The Stewards point out that Article 1.3.3 of the International Sporting Code states: 'If an automobile is found not to comply with the applicable technical regulations, the claim that no performance advantage has been obtained is not a defence.' In addition to the law, this has long been the position of the International Court of Appeal.”

“The race stewards therefore impose the usual penalty and disqualify the car and driver from the qualifying results.”

The verdicts are in

At least the first two. Gasly is disqualified as expected, Williams gets a fine. More from us soon!

Hamilton: Tires didn't work

While we continue to wait for the official verdicts, we wanted to hear what Lewis Hamilton had to say about his qualifying: “Qualifying was disappointing because we had a good day yesterday and I thought we could fight for a place in the first two rows of the grid.

“Unfortunately, I had problems getting the tires to work and that's exactly what it's about,” he explains, adding: “Our goal is to move up tomorrow and I'm confident we can do that.”

“It's not always easy to make up places here, but we have a slightly different tyre strategy than the others, which could help us. We also have to pay attention to the tyres, because it's easy to have problems with the rear tyres here.”

“If we can do that, hopefully we can find a better day tomorrow than today,” said Hamilton.

No punishment for Russell?

Mercedes has just sent out its obligatory press release about qualifying. This is exciting because it could be an indication that George Russell did not receive a retroactive penalty.

Because tomorrow it is said that Russell will start from P5. And the teams are always informed about the decisions of the race stewards a little before the public. The official FIA document could also arrive soon.

Let's get ready.

Significantly slower than expected

Leclerc's pole time was 1:41.365. This is a surprise, as the teams had expected to be a full two seconds faster this weekend. Mario Isola from Pirelli reveals this.

The Italian explains: “Today, too, we saw that the track gets faster the more laps the cars have completed.” They are still “far from” what they had actually expected.

A time of 1:39.4 was previously simulated, and not even the pole time from the previous year (1:40.203) could be achieved. This shows “that there is still scope for further track development during the race,” said Isola.

Zhou: Was only a water carrier for Bottas

The Chinese driver was more than six tenths slower than his teammate. But this time there is an explanation for that. “We knew that I would get a penalty on Sunday, which would force me to start from the last place on the grid,” he recalls.

“That's why we wanted to optimise the team's overall result. My goal was to create a slipstream for Valtteri so that he could get as close to Q2 as possible, which is what we practiced in FP3,” said Zhou.

Or to put it another way: He sacrificed his qualifying for Bottas because it was of no importance to him anyway. But it didn't really help because the Finn finished 18th, just one position ahead of him.

“Ultimately, we just weren't fast enough to make it into Q2 today,” Bottas shrugged. Sauber thus had to retire with both cars in Q1 for the third time in a row.