Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, Monza, 2019

No penalty for Hulkenberg for cutting turn one in qualifying

2019 Italian Grand Prix

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Nico Hulkenberg has avoided a penalty for cutting turn one “without a justifiable reason” during qualifying.

The Renault driver was accused of holding other cars up by cutting the chicane after leaving the pits ahead of his eight rivals at the start of the final runs in Q3.

“The driver stated that he was focussing his attention on the cars that were behind him and that he left it too late to turn the corner so he went straight ahead into the chicane,” the stewards said in a statement.

“The stewards noted that he entered the corner at the same speed as he did on his previous fast lap. He was also in third gear instead of second gear which he used on his previous out lap.

“The stewards note that the regulation refers to ‘deliberately’ leaving the track and in this case we are unable to determine that the driver deliberately left the track.”

Hulkenberg is also under investigation for driving unnecessarily slowly during the session, as are Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz Jnr. Sebastian Vettel has also been summoned to answer charges he left the track and gained a lasting advantage when he ran wide at Parabolica.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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37 comments on “No penalty for Hulkenberg for cutting turn one in qualifying”

  1. Will they say how Vettel drove off the track and didn’t have his time deleted?

    To smart guys – read Directive yourself. Vettel completely left the track with 4 wheel.
    I am wondering at the extreme stretch of imagination required to consider it a “permitted” maneuver.

    1. @dallein Did you even read the article?

      “Sebastian Vettel has also been summoned to answer charges he left the track and gained a lasting advantage”

      It’s being investigated.

      1. But other drivers had laptime deleted immedeatly. by same logic why arent they also being summoned to answer question?

        1. Because it’s very marginal whether he left the track or not. The stewards can’t just delete the laptime unless they are absolutely sure he left the track. In the other cases it was very clear they left the track.

        2. In other cases, it was immediately obvious. In Vettel’s case it wasn’t.

        3. Sounds very much like Derek Warwick is one of the stewards here….

        4. Because stewards are pussies that are afraid the crowd will riot so they give some drivers advantages over others

    2. Vettel completely left the track with 4 wheel.

      That’s not 100% clear yet. It may be 110% clear to you, even before looking at the screen. I’m also inclined to say he did. However, the footage that was shown on the world feed was insufficient to prove beyond reasonable doubt he did in fact leave the track with all four wheels.
      That’s what the Stewards are trying to find out. They can’t delete a lap time because they think a driver left the track.
      Once sufficient evidence has been provided (e.g. a camera still that shows both right-hand wheels at the same time with a clear view on the track limit), it’s a binary decision: He left the track, his time is deleted; he didn’t (clearly) leave the track, his time stands.

      The extreme stretch of imagination, I’m afraid, is going on inside your own mind.

      1. It was quite clear from the replay. Close maybe, but still.

        The stewards could have accessed the footage during the session. Why wait 3 hours?

      2. @nase I’d say the world feed screen caps that have been floating around Twitter are pretty definitive.

        To @Chaitanya‘s point, in any case, if it’s a binary decision based on footage (which it should be), then what would the stewards have to gain by asking Vettel’s opinion?

        1. @markzastrow

          I’d say the world feed screen caps that have been floating around Twitter are pretty definitive.

          Are they, though, to the unbiased eye?
          I really can’t make out whether the front right tyre has entirely left the track. It’s not touching the paint, but from what I understand, the criterion is not whether the tyre makes physical contact with the track, but whether any part of it still was still above any part of the track. Basically the same rule as in football: Did the ball/tyre cross the line (including an imaginary perpendicular line that extends upwards) in its entirety?
          From that perspective, the answer can only be “probably”, but as definitive proof, it’s worthless.

          1. nase,

            Are they, though, to the unbiased eye?

            Yes, to the unbiased eye they are quite clear.

            It IS about the car touching the track:

            Drivers will be judged to have left the track if no part of the car remains in contact with it

          2. Ah, good on the FIA for changing the rules so they can exempt Vettel from the obvious foul.

        2. @markzastrow

          if it’s a binary decision based on footage (which it should be), then what would the stewards have to gain by asking Vettel’s opinion?

          That’s the standard procedure for incidents that couldn’t be resolved during a session and require further investigation. A driver under investigation will invariably be summoned to the Stewards, so that he can give his opinion. Most of the time, this opinion is predictable and worthless, but it’s just part of a fair trial.

  2. Wow thats funny other drivers who left track had laptimes deleted instantly but a Castrated Donkeys driver does it and he get summoned to answer a few questions. This stewarding is foolish beyond reason.

    1. If you read your comments sober, do you feel pride?

      1. Seriously. I mean why are people like these even allowed to comment here. If anything, rather than Vettel’s time, this poster’s account should be deleted.

        1. There’s a problem, he doesn’t have an account!

    2. It gets even worse when they clearly can see that Vettel was off track and then they simply change the rules (or interpretation thereof) to pretend he wasn’t off.

      Disgusting really.

      1. It is just another embarrassment to the FIA. Nothing new really.

  3. We need VAR in F1.

    Just joking.

  4. What happened with Bottas time that didn’t count and then was reinstated?

    1. It seems that the wasn’t yet about the red flag and so it doesn’t count. Pretty weird way to go.

      This was on Tobi Grüner’s Twitter

      We asked the FIA about that. According to them it’s not the red flags but the time the teams are informed about the red flags that counts. And that information came shortly after Bottas crossed the line.

      1. Some words are missing but you get it

      2. @anunaki
        Thanks for that, it sort of makes sense now. I mean, the distinction sounds a bit random, but it does explain why they first deleted, then re-instated Bottas’ lap time.

    2. There’s a slight delay between the red flags being waved and the teams being informed of it and what determines when the session stops is when the teams are informed, not when they start waving the flags. Bottas set his laptime slighlty after the red flags but before the teams had been infomed of it, therefore his laptime was reinstated.

      1. But surely he didn’t slow for the yellow flags ? I’m confused as to why this hasn’t been picked up on. Bottas is a tiny fraction off pole position but had to pass a car in the wall under a yellow flag. That shows he didn’t lift at all for the yellows ? Hamilton was right behind Kimi so I think he’d be fine but Bottas and Sainz both had to pass the incident.

        1. Yes he did slow for the yellow flags, that bit of him passing the flag (where we see the red is already waved) also shows him going pretty slowly Tom. But, he did indeed set his fastest S3 (since it was only at the end of the Parabolica); but he got third bc. that lap might have given him pole had it not been interrupted (though note that Hamilton saw RAI go off track ahead of him, likely had to slow a bit too, and was also only a 5 hundreds of a second behind pole).

    3. I wondered about that, too. I mean, why did they delete the time in the first place? It boils down to comparing two timestamps in the system (when was the lap time set? when was the session interrupted?), so if they went back on that decision, this can only mean that someone pressed “delete” on Bottas’ lap time based on a vague (and inaccurate) visual impression.

    4. Also Sainz’s time.

  5. “The stewards note that the regulation refers to ‘deliberately’ leaving the track and in this case we are unable to determine that the driver deliberately left the track.”

    He definitely did it deliberately lmao. But I guess then they’d have to punish both Ferrari’s for doing the same thing in Q1..

    1. And we know that they’d never punish Vettel at Monza.

  6. I don’t agree. Should have been punished, we all knew what he was trying to do.

  7. Well, didn’t know the FIA were always so fair that no (or too little) evidence of wrongdoing is acquittal, but that does sort of make sense in the new ‘let us race’ regime.

  8. “The driver stated that he was focussing his attention on the cars that were behind him

    Man, either drivers fail to use their mirrors at all, or end up stargazing into them and forget what’s ahead.

    I’d have given him a penalty for distracted driving. ;)

    1. @phylyp I know right. How on earth is nonsense like that a reason be let off the hook.

      How about they try: “Sorry officer, I didn’t see that the traffic light was red” or “Oh dear, was I doing 200pmh? I wasn’t paying attention I guess.”

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