F1 News: Nico Hulkenberg loses three grids for starting position play race Canadian Grand Prix after breaking the red flag that appeared in the last qualifying accidentsOscar Piastry.
Nico Hulkenberg actually has the right to start from the front row in the main race of the Canadian Grand Prix. Unfortunately for having committed a red flag fault during qualifying, he lost three grids.
The qualifying session, which took place in the rain on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, was celebrated with penalties from the riders, including Hulkenberg. The German rider was considered to have violated the red flag which was raised after Oscar Piastri’s crash in Q3.
This prompted Fernando Alonso, who had previously started from P3, to move up to P2. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, who was in fourth place, also took advantage of his third place. Hamilton’s partner at Mercedes, George Russell, now starts from fourth position.
In addition to the grid penalty, Nico Hulkenberg also added to his collection of super license penalty points, so he scored three points in a total 12 month period.
Stewards have also spoken publicly about why they punished the 35-year-old.
“The steward heard briefings from the driver of car 27 (Nico Hulkenberg), a team representative and reviewed positioning/disposition system data, video, time, telemetry, radio from the team and on-board video evidence.”
“The driver had just completed his fastest lap and had started another push lap. He was in T1 when the red flag came up, but by then he was 1.5 seconds over the time delta.”
“He claims it made it very difficult for him to get under the delta in the next sector. He also admits to being confused about the beep of his helmet, and so at one point he thought he was too slow .”
“Telemetry comparison with Mobil 31 [Esteban Ocon] showed that in general for the rest of the lap he was at about the same speed as car 31 which corresponds to the delta time in each mini-sector. We consider this as a mitigating circumstance. »
“However, the rules are very clear and if there is no question of drivers acting dangerously or driving in a dangerous manner, there are infringements and therefore penalties must be imposed.
“The normal penalty for not slowing down under a red flag is 10 grid positions. However, given the extenuating circumstances, a lower penalty is appropriate. We note that the intent of the rule is to ensure that cars do not do not exceed the speed limit during a red flag situation and there is no evidence that the speed is excessive in this case.
“We also note that drivers should familiarize themselves with the operational aspects of delta signals.”
Article Tags: Nico Hulkenberg, Haas, F1 2023, Canadian GP
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