The stewards have reached a verdict regarding a bizarre collision between Nico Hülkenberg and Lance Stroll in the pit lane during qualifying at the F1 Belgian GP. No further action was taken against the German. A reprimand was handed to Sauber.
Before the green light appeared, Fernando Alonso was unhappy as Ollie Bearman was released in front of him into the fast lane. It was very marginal. However, the stewards decided to not investigate it.
Nico Hülkenberg and Lance Stroll collide in pit lane during F1 Belgian GP qualifying
A more serious incident took place when the green light was shown. Nico Hülkenberg and Lance Stroll made contact with each other in pit lane in F1 Belgian GP qualifying.
Since queueing started in pit lane over the last couple of years instead of creating problems on track itself, there has been a number of close shaves and incidents.
Trying to get into the fast lane, Nico Hülkenberg tried to make sure his left front was over the white line so he could be slot in — but Lance Stroll was not having it. The Canadian kept trundling down pit road and they made contact. A front wing change was required for the German driver.
Nico Hülkenberg qualified P14, with Lance Stroll last as Aston Martin struggled for pace.
Stewards verdict
“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 27 (Nico Hülkenberg), the driver of Car 18 (Lance Stroll), team representatives, the FIA Formula 1 Race Director, the FIA Single Seater Sporting Director and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, and in-car video evidence.
“Reason: 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. 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 whichcase, 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.
“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.”
