Hamilton excluded from qualifying; Maldonado on pole 12 May 2012
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has lost his pole position for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix after the stewards found his car did not have sufficient fuel onboard to comply with the rules on its return to parc ferme.
As a result of the decision, Williams’ Pastor Maldonado inherits pole for the Barcelona round, whilst Hamilton - excluded from the qualifying results - will start from the back of the grid.
The Briton stopped out on track at the end of Q3, after being told over his radio to pull over at the side of the circuit. There wasn’t enough fuel in his MP4-27 to enable it to return under its own power to the pits and for the team to provide a one-litre fuel sample in post-qualifying scrutineering, as required by the sport’s technical regulations.
After a lengthy discussion, the F€A stewards rejected McLaren’s case - put forward by team representative Sam Michael - that the car had stopped out on track due to reasons of ‘force majeure’.
"A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car, thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount for sampling purposes,” explained the F€A in a statement. “As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the competitor, the stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure.
"The Stewards determine that this is a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the F€A Formula One Technical Regulations and the Competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the Qualifying Session. The Competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid."
Click here to see the revised grid for Sunday’s Spanish round, following Hamilton’s exclusion.
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