FIA accept blame after bizarre qualifying mishap: 'We got it wrong'

The FIA has admitted to an error which led to Nico Hulkenberg falsely being allowed to participate in Q2 during qualifying from Bahrain.

Hulkenberg's fastest lap attempt in the opening segment of qualifying was fast enough to see him into the next stage.

However, later on in the qualifying session, Hulkenberg dropped to 16th on the timesheet, despite participating in the Q2 session that featured 15 drivers.

After initial confusion, it soon became clear that Hulkenberg's fastest Q1 lap time involved a track limit infringement at Turn 11, which was initially missed by the FIA.

In a statement from the governing body, it acknowledged it did not consider the corner in question a high priority to monitor.

“There are a number of track limit hot spots which are monitored continuously live,” a statement read.

“Track limit hot spots are given precedence. Based on previous sessions, Turn 11 was not deemed to be an area of focus for track limits. In hindsight, it should have been higher on our priority list as a corner.

“Checks in areas of the circuit such as Turn 11 take a bit longer than those of a high priority.

“Unfortunately, in this case due to the timing of the check it was not possible to act before the start of Q2. As soon as we became aware of the incident, we acted on it. 

“We are building towards increased resources and improved systems and processes. On this occasion, we got it wrong.”

The late penalty was a bitter blow to Williams - if the call had been made prior to the start of Q2, Alex Albon would have been free to participate rather than being left in the Q1 drop zone.