Nico Rosberg has been summoned to see the stewards after he set the fastest lap of the session whilst yellow flags were being shown for Fernando Alonso's McLaren, which had spun at Turn 9, just moments before Rosberg arrived at the corner.
The Mercedes driver snatched pole with a late flyer. Meanwhile his rivals were forced to back off substantially and abandon their laps because of the flag. Rosberg however continued, setting a purple middle sector – where the flags were being shown – and went on to improve on his time.
Although Rosberg claims he "had a very, very big lift" whilst negotiating the flags, the stewards have asked to see him and a team representative to prove he did in fact lift by a satisfactory amount.
"For sure, there were double-waved yellows, but I had a very, very big lift," said Rosberg. "I lost a lot of time as a result and, also slower than on my previous lap in that yellow segment, so I am sure it will be okay."
Appendix H of the International Sporting Code says a driver must "reduce speed significantly, do not overtake, and be prepared to change direction or stop," when double waved yellow flags are shown.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner wasn't convinced Rosberg's lift was enough to satisfy that rule and called upon the stewards to look into the incident.
"One thing I couldn't understand which I need to check is Rosberg was behind Daniel, and managed to get a purple middle sector. I don't know if they had it cleared by the time he got there," he said.
When he was told Rosberg had lifted according to Mercedes, he replied: "With that sort of laptime? That's down to the stewards to decide."
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