Stewards issue verdict after bizarre incident in Belgian GP qualifying

20:01, 26 Jul

Updated: 20:56, 26 Jul

byTobia Elia

The Stewards for the Belgian Grand Prix weekend have announced the verdict on the investigation involving Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll over the bizarre incident that took place in the pit lane during qualifying.

In the early stages of the thirteenth qualifying session of the season, Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll were involved in an incident in the pit lane.

As Hulkenberg exited his garage, he misjudged the space from the Canadian’s car approaching in the fast lane, slightly damaging the front wing of his own car.

The bizarre incident came under scrutiny, and the stewards have now announced their verdict after reviewing what happened.

Nico Hulkenberg

Only a reprimand for Hulkenberg

Hulkenberg was found guilty of breaching Article 34.8 of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations but was handed only a reprimand.

''The Race Director’s notes state “Any car driven to the end of the Pit Lane prior to the start of a session must form up in a line in the fast lane and leave in the order they got there,'' the document reads.

''It is noted that the car will be considered to be in the fast lane when a tyre has crossed the solid white line separating the fast lane from the inner lane. In this context “crossing” means that all of the tyre should be beyond the far side of the line”

''In this case, no tyre of Car 27 complied with the above prior to the start of the session, in which case, Car 18 is considered to have priority in the line. Therefore Car 27 should have merged into the line when there was a “suitable gap” and in this case no such gap existed.''

''At all times the driver of Car 27 was following team instructions either by radio or hand signal from a team member. Accordingly, Car 27 breached Article 34.8 and the penalty is applied to the team.''

''In relation to the subsequent collision that occurred, both cars appeared to move, under instructions from their team, at the same time and inadvertently collided. We consider that no driver was wholly or predominantly to blame and hence take no further action in relation to Causing a Collision.''