Romain Grosjean must start Formula 1’s Styrian Grand Prix from the pit lane after Haas broke parc ferme conditions on Saturday evening.
Grosjean was able to complete just one untimed lap in qualifying due to a problem with the water pump in his Haas VF-20 and was due to line up at the back of the field.
In order to fix the issue Haas broke parc ferme regulations, a transgression which can result in exclusion from the event, but stewards opted against taking that action.
“Car 8 [Grosjean] took part in Q1 by exiting the pit lane and therefore was under Parc Ferme conditions,” read a statement issued on Sunday afternoon.
“As reported by the Technical Delegate and confirmed by the Team Manager during the hearing, the team did not stop working on the car 3 hours and 30 minutes after the end of qualifying (20:16hrs) but instead continued to work on the car until 23:20.
“The work carried out during this time was not under supervision of a scrutineer.
“In general a breach of Parc Ferme regulations could lead to the driver being disqualified from the event.
“For work carried out on the car in the time windows until 3 hours 30 minutes after the end of qualifying and after 5 hours 10 minutes before the start of the formation lap that includes changes to the set-up of the car or modifying parts of the car, a start from the pit lane would be mandatory.
“In this particular case the stewards accept that there clearly are mitigating circumstances as the team would not have been able to run the car in the race without breaking the regulations and they approached the stewards before the start of the relevant time period.”
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