Hamilton loses pole position (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Hamilton loses pole position

7:04pm Saturday 12th May 2012 in National Sport © Press Association 2013

Lewis Hamilton has been dramatically moved to the back of the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix after being excluded from Saturday's qualifying session.

McLaren have been found guilty of a fuel irregularity under the current FIA technical regulations as Hamilton stopped on track after seemingly claiming the team's 150th pole in Formula One.

McLaren had cited force majeure and had hoped to remain on pole, but following a lengthy stewards' hearing the 27-year-old and the team have been handed a severe penalty.

An FIA statement read: "The stewards received a report from the race director (Charlie Whiting) which stated that during post-qualifying scrutineering a sample of fuel was required from car 4 (Hamilton).

"However, the car failed to return to the pits under its own power as required under article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One technical regulations.

"The stewards heard from the team representative, Mr 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 the complete control of the competitor, the stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure.

"The stewards determine that this is a breach of article 6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations and the competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the qualifying session. The competitor is, however, allowed to start the race from the back of the grid."

A McLaren spokesman said: "We accept the stewards did not agree with our interpretation of force majeure. Our aim is now to maximise the points we can score tomorrow."