Sebastian Vettel has avoided losing his Q3 time as the stewards decided it could not definitively say if he breached track limits during Italian GP qualifying
The German appeared to just have all four wheels off track as he went through the Parabolica en route to posting what would be the fourth-best time, but none of the available camera angles offered a certain conclusion.
As a result, despite a strict enforcement of track limits through the famous corner, Vettel does get to keep his grid slot.
“The stewards reviewed multiple camera angles, some of which appeared to show that the tyres were not in contact with the white line of the track edge,” the stewards noted.
“However other angles appeared to show that part of the front ‘wheel’ (when viewed from above) may have been within the bounds of the white line. This cast an element of doubt which is considered significant enough to give ‘benefit of the doubt’ to the driver in question.”
Also in Q3, the stewards were left to review the shambles of the final out-lap which saw seven cars run out of time to start a flying lap as they desperately went in search of a slipstream.
Nico Hulkenberg would face two investigations. The first for deliberately going through the escape road at the first chicane and then for driving unnecessarily slowly during the out-lap.
Having avoided penalty on the first count, he, along with Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz, both picked up reprimands for the latter offence.
Responding to the farcical scenes, it was also noted: “The Stewards strongly recommend that the FIA expedite a solution to this type of situation.”