By Mail On Sunday Reporter
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Lewis Hamilton has been stripped of pole position for today’s Spanish Grand Prix and demoted to the back of the grid â€" after effectively running out of fuel during qualifying.
The British driver had completed his triumphant lap and was midway through a ‘slow-down’ lap when his McLaren team ordered him to stop because of a ‘technical problem’.
The car was found to have just 1.3 litres of petrol after it was hoisted back to the pits â€" insufficient for it to have completed the lap and then to have provided a mandatory one-litre fuel sample.
Running out of petrol: Lewis Hamilton leaves his car on the track at the end of his final qualifying lap after being told to stop because there was insufficient fuel, before the car was lifted back to the pits (below)
Stewards ruled the car was underweight because of the lighter fuel load and could have given Hamilton, 27, an advantage.
McLaren claimed that the shortage had been caused by a fuel-rig fault and had not influenced the result.
But the stewards at the Barcelona track took a dim view of the infringement and ruled the former world champion must start today’s race from the back row.
Hamilton was still elated inside his car when he had been told over his radio to park half a lap from the garage. He was informed: ‘Please stop the car. We have a problem.’
Running out of petrol: Lewis Hamilton leaves his car on the track at the end of his final qualifying lap after being told to stop because there was insufficient fuel, before the car was lifted back to the pits (below)
Under the regulations this is only permissible if there is a technical malfunction with a car. Otherwise, a driver must continue to the pits for the team to supply a minimum one litre of fuel for examination.
And after hearing the radio order to Hamilton, the race stewards immediately began to investigate why McLaren had prevented him from completing his lap as demanded by the rules.
McLaren’s defence was that Hamilton’s car had experienced a technical issue â€" a ‘force majeure’ in Formula One parlance. However, when challenged if human error could be ruled out, team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: ‘No.’
Costly error: McLaren have been punished for another blunder this season
For McLaren, this was another crisis in a season of many difficulties, mostly self-inflicted.
Hamilton revealed his frustration through a carefully worded statement late last night. ‘This is such a disappointment,’ he said. ‘Today’s qualifying session was one of the best I have ever driven â€" the whole car was just rolling so smoothly â€" it felt fantastic.
‘It’s clear that it’s going to be an incredibly tough race for us. Even so, as always, I’ll never give up and give it everything I’ve got. I’ll always race my heart out.’
Say what: Hamilton speaks to McLaren communications officer Steve Cooper after what appeared to be a superb qualifying session
Privately, Hamilton must be seething. With his contract expiring at the end of this season, Whitmarsh must be concerned by yet another preventable mishap denying him a chance of victory today, after he had placed himself in position to win the Spanish Grand Prix for a first time.
Whitmarsh accepted the team had betrayed the 2008 world champion, when he said: ‘You won’t be surprised to hear me saying that today was a very disappointing day for all at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.’
Top of the pile: Hamilton was in high spirits after a brilliant qualifying performance - only to see his efforts dashed
The stewards cast McLaren in an unforgiving light. Their statement read: ‘The stewards heard from the team representative 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 complete control of the competitor, the stewards cannot accept this as a force majeure.’
Over to you: Martin Whitmarsh is leaving the matter in the hands of race stewards
Instead, it was deemed to be a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations. The statement added: ‘The competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the qualifying session. But he is allowed to start the race from the back of the grid.’
After a catalogue of mistakes this season, this latest embarrassment will be hard to absorb. At the Grand Prix in Bahrain, a McLaren mechanic was replaced mid-race after twice botching pit-stops for Hamilton in his role as wheel-gun man.
Having previously seriously compromised Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button’s race a week earlier in China, the team were determined to improve their drill after an inquest. But they stumbled, amateurishly, into a catastrophe of their own design.
Upgraded: Maldonado (right) was bumped up to pole - the first of his Formula One careerÂ
But woes for McLaren became jubilation for Williams.
Pastor Maldonado inherited pole position to deliver a memorable gift to Sir Frank Williams, honoured last night by a surprise drinks reception to celebrate his recent 70th birthday. ‘It’s the best present ever for Frank,’ said Maldonado.
And the worst of times for McLaren â€" again.
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Lewis doesn't just have to compete with others drivers, he has to compete with his 'team'. Time and time again they let him down and appear to favour Button. Seems he has to be twice as good as anyone else to win. Just wonder why that should be???
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lewis..... it's time you started looking for a team that will provide the car, back up and support you need to win.... every season they sabotage your efforts and make you look bad ......
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Not only are McLaren complettely to blame, in creating a number of situations thay have robbed both of there drivers of wins, themselves of the owrld championship through nothing but incompitence of there own, but what really gets me is the FIA, they are slowly ruining the sport. It would appear that noone in the stewards room of FIA has a shread of common sense, there constant inconsistentsy in punishmentss is unbeleivable. as i recall a number of drivers including sebastian vettel stopped there car before returning to parc ferme after the race in bahrain, same situation yet no punishment. another prime example is maldonado who last year intentionally crashed into the side of hamilton because he had a bad lap though to take his frustrations out on hamilton. there was no punishment there, none. The FIA is proving itself time and time again to be a complete joke with no real common sense. this paired with McLarens constant falure means i wouldnt be su rprised if they lost lewis.
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Okay Lewis did not deserve this but lets get this straight, his team are proffessionals and they knew exactly what they were doing, I do not believe them when they say it was a fuel pipe problem. The fact that they stopped him from making it back to the pitts proves all that. McLaren should be heavily fined.
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Whitmarsh out Ron Dennis back is the answer.
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What are F1 stewards trying to do to the sport? This is beyond the driver's control and is the fault of the TEAM not the driver. Penalise the team if they must - but leave the driver alone when it's not his actions which have caused any problems. Strange as well how often it seems to be Hamilton who gets the worst of it - we all know he went through a 'sticky' phase but he's always been punished more and harder than any other driver. Or is that just me who thinks that? I also think this wouldn't have happened to Ferrari. If Alonso's car was carried back to the pits completely empty of fuel they would not be penalised the way McLaren are - HE would still have been top of the grid. They never have been treated the same way as other teams.
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@Crossworder, Greece.. You win the Cigar, I couldn't print what we all believe are ruining F1.
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Follow the rules. It's not rocket science. Too much time and effort wasted trying to be clever.
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BACK OF THE GRID!!?!? You what?! Are the race directors trying to ruin the championship and purposefully create a dangerous race with Lewis carving his way through slower cars... CRAZY, TOO HARSH, GOOD LUCK LEWIS!
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Yet more RUBBER RULES from FIA
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