SINGAPORE \u2013 The Singapore GP stewards revealed there were more timing issues during Saturday\u2019s qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, with the information received by the teams \u201cnot\u00a0fully\u00a0synchronised\u201d and slow to update.<\/p>\n
As a result, Nico Hulkenberg escaped a penalty for impeding Carlos Sainz, while the Williams driver may feel hard done by for the second day in a row.<\/p>\n
FIA explains \u2018extraordinary mitigating circumstances\u2019<\/p>\n
Fighting for a spot in Q3 in qualifying at the Marina Bay street circuit, Hulkenberg was on the racing line on the entry to Turn 5 on a cooldown lap as Sainz came flying up behind him on a hot lap.<\/p>\n
Sainz had to abandon his lap and was eliminated in 14th place.<\/p>\n
Hulkenberg<\/a>, summoned to the stewards for potentially impeding Sainz, admitted it didn\u2019t look good.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know, I didn\u2019t get told, I thought he was on a cool lap or whatever, I don\u2019t know,\u201d the Audi driver told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t have a call. Yeah, doesn\u2019t sound great, unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Hulkenberg and Sainz, along with team representatives, spoke with the stewards after qualifying, where it emerged that F1\u2019s timing system had suffered yet another glitch.<\/p>\n As such, Hulkenberg avoided a grid penalty for impeding, with the stewards citing \u201cextraordinary mitigating circumstances\u201d.<\/p>\n The FIA verdict read: \u201cThe\u00a0Stewards\u00a0heard\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0driver\u00a0of\u00a0Car\u00a027\u00a0(Nico\u00a0Hulkenberg),\u00a0the\u00a0driver\u00a0of\u00a0Car 55\u00a0(Carlos\u00a0Sainz),\u00a0team\u00a0representatives\u00a0and\u00a0reviewed\u00a0positioning\/marshalling\u00a0system \u201cVideo\u00a0showed\u00a0that\u00a0Car\u00a027\u00a0was\u00a0driving\u00a0slowly\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0racing\u00a0line\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0approach\u00a0to Turn\u00a05.\u00a0Car\u00a055\u00a0arrived\u00a0from\u00a0behind\u00a0on\u00a0a\u00a0push\u00a0lap\u00a0and\u00a0had\u00a0to\u00a0abandon\u00a0the\u00a0lap.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat Car\u00a055\u00a0was\u00a0thereby\u00a0impeded\u00a0was\u00a0not\u00a0in\u00a0dispute.\u00a0The\u00a0issue\u00a0was\u00a0whether\u00a0Car\u00a055\u00a0had been\u00a0\u2018unnecessarily\u2019\u00a0impeded.<\/p>\n \u201cThe\u00a0team\u00a0stated\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0hearing\u00a0that\u00a0they\u00a0believed,\u00a0based\u00a0on\u00a0timing\u00a0information\u00a0to which\u00a0they\u00a0subscribed,\u00a0sourced\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0official\u00a0timekeeping\u00a0provider,\u00a0that\u00a0Car\u00a055 \u201cTherefore\u00a0the\u00a0driver\u00a0of\u00a0Car\u00a027\u00a0did\u00a0not\u00a0expect\u00a0Car\u00a055\u00a0to\u00a0still\u00a0be\u00a0on\u00a0a\u00a0push\u00a0lap when\u00a0it\u00a0was\u00a0closing\u00a0in.<\/p>\n \u201cThe stewards acknowledge the fact that the data referenced by the team led the team to reasonably believe that Car 55 had received the chequered flag. Indeed, it was evident from Car 55\u2019s radio messages that its team had formed the same belief relying on the same data. <\/p>\n \u201cThe misunderstanding was revealed to be attributable to the information initially received by the teams not being fully synchronised and only being displayed in a correct manner after a short period of time. <\/p>\n \u201cHowever, that post-processing did not occur until Car 55 arrived behind Car 27, depriving the team of any reasonable opportunity to correct the information conveyed to the driver. <\/p>\n \u201cIn the stewards\u2019 assessment, because the source of the data upon which the team relied was the official timing provider, it was not unreasonable for the team to have relied upon it, even though the team also had available to it the official timing data which conflicted. <\/p>\n \u201cOn\u00a0the\u00a0objective\u00a0facts, the stewards determined that Car 55 was unnecessarily impeded. However, there were extraordinary mitigating circumstances in this case because the incident was attributable to the team\u2019s reliance on information that was, for a brief period, inconsistent.\u201d<\/p>\n F1 2026: The season\u2019s winners and losers<\/p>\n The results of the F1 2026 championship <\/a><\/p>\n The F1 2026 Drivers\u2019 and Constructors\u2019 Championship standings<\/a><\/p>\n It was the second time at the Singapore Grand Prix that a timing issue that Sainz can feel went against him. The Spaniard was also one of several drivers who could not use Overtake Mode when Friday\u2019s SQ1 was restarted following a red flag caused by Sergio Perez, while others had access to the additional power.<\/p>\n The Williams driver, who was slowest of all in Sprint qualifying, blasted Formula 1\u2019s lack of \u201csporting equity\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was another software issue with the cars this time around, and we were on the bad end of it. And for whatever reason, the FIA, like in Malaysia, didn\u2019t decide to do sporting equity, and were happy to do half of the cars in quali with a higher power than the other half of the cars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I\u2019d be confused why the sport keeps doing different things depending on who is out in Q1 or who is out in lap one.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n
data,\u00a0video,\u00a0team\u00a0radio,\u00a0timing\u00a0and\u00a0in-car\u00a0video\u00a0evidence.<\/p>\n
had\u00a0already\u00a0taken\u00a0the\u00a0chequered\u00a0flag\u00a0and\u00a0conveyed\u00a0that\u00a0information\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0driver\u00a0by radio.\u00a0<\/p>\n