Hamilton excluded as Maldonado assumes pole!

In a cruel twist to what was an exciting qualifying session earlier this afternoon, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has been excluded from qualifying and will now start tomorrow’s race plum last in 24th position. The British driver did not have enough fuel after his qualifying lap, and therefore failed to return to the pits under his own steam.

This bizarre turn of events means Pastor Maldonado will start from pole-position for tomorrow’s race alongside local hero Fernando Alonso. This news came as Sir Frank Williams’ 70th birthday party was taking place at the track.

Lewis Hamilton was deemed by the race stewards to have stopped his car after securing pole-position illegally, and therefore came under immediate scrutiny of the race stewards. The McLaren team insisted to the stewards that a technical fault prevented the correct amount of fuel entering Hamilton’s car prior to his lap, thus the reason for the ’force majeure’.

Although the race stewards excluded the former World Champion, he will still be able to start tomorrow’s race from the back of the grid.

"The stewards received a report from the Race Director which stated that during post-qualifying scrutineering a sample of fuel was required from car 4 [Hamilton], however, the car failed to return to the pits under its own power as required under Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations," read a statement issued by the race stewards on the matter. “The Stewards heard from the team representative Mr Sam Michael who stated that the car stopped on the circuit for 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. 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 FIA 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."

Tomorrow’s race is set to be even more of a free-for-all, with a topsy-turvy grid set to line-up for the race. Lewis Hamilton will instead line-up amongst the HRT’s and Marussia’s for tomorrow’s race.

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