Hulkenberg loses front-row start amid spate of penalties

The Haas driver has been hit with a three-place grid penalty for failing to stay above the minimum lap time during a red flag following Oscar Piastri’s crash in Q3.

Hulkenberg, who snatched a stunning second on the grid seconds before the red flag was flown, will now drop to fifth for Sunday’s Grand Prix in Montreal.

The German’s demotion means Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso will join pole-sitter Max Verstappen on the front row, while Lewis Hamilton is promoted to third. 

Hamilton's Mercedes teammate George Russell will also move up one position to fourth. 

Hulkenberg has also received a penalty point on his licence, taking him up to a total of three for the current 12 months period. 

What the stewards said 

"The Stewards heard from the driver of Car ​27 (Nico Hulkenberg), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence.

"The driver had just finished his fastest lap and had started another push lap. He was at T1 when the red flag was displayed, however at that point he was already 1.5 seconds over his delta time. He claimed this made it extremely difficult for him to come below the delta in the next sector. He also admitted to confusion about the beep signal in his headset, and therefore at one stage thought he was going too slow.

"Comparison of telemetry with that of Car 31 showed that in general for the rest of the lap he was approximately the same speed as Car 31 which complied with the delta times in each mini-sector. We regard this as a mitigating circumstance.

"However, the regulation is very clear and whilst there is no question of the driver acting dangerously or driving unsafely, there was a breach and thus a penalty has to be imposed. The normal penalty for failure to slow under red flags is 10 grid positions however in view of the mitigating circumstance, a lower penalty is appropriate. We note the intention of the regulation is to ensure a car is not speeding during a red flag situation and there is no evidence that the speed was excessive in this case. 

"We also note that the driver should make himself more familiar with the operational aspects of the delta signals."

Three drivers penalised for impeding

In addition to Hulkenberg's penalty, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll all picked up post-session grid drops for impeding rivals during qualifying. 

All three drivers will be demoted three positions from where they qualified.