Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo have both been excluded from qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after their cars were deemed to be in contravention of the technical regulations.
The FIA’s technical delegate Jo Bauer found that their front-wing flaps deflected outside the allowed tolerance under aerodynamic load.
Several members of the Red Bull team were seen discussing the matter with the race stewards on Saturday evening, but the stewards upheld Bauer’s ruling and excluded both cars.
Ricciardo had qualified fifth with Vettel sixth. Both have been allowed to start the race from the back of the grid, though it’s likely they may start from the pitlane to make changes to their car.
In a statement, Red Bull accepted the ruling but believed other teams were also breaking the rules: “We have been singled out for a front wing deflection test when it is clear that other teams are interpreting the rules in similar fashion.”
However the team haven’t been singled out as stated, as all the cars in the top ten were tested on Saturday evening.
As a result of the penalty, everyone from seventh and below is promoted two places.
Revised Abu Dhabi Race Grid:
| # | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:41.308 | 1:41.459 | 1:40.480 |
| 02 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:41.207 | 1:40.920 | 1:40.866 |
| 03 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:42.346 | 1:41.376 | 1:41.025 |
| 04 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:41.475 | 1:41.144 | 1:41.119 |
| 05 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:42.302 | 1:42.082 | 1:41.908 |
| 06 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:42.137 | 1:41.875 | 1:41.964 |
| 07 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:42.439 | 1:42.168 | 1:42.236 |
| 08 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:42.467 | 1:41.940 | 1:42.866 |
| 09 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren | 1:42.104 | 1:42.198 | |
| 10 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:42.413 | 1:42.207 | |
| 11 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:42.654 | 1:42.239 | |
| 12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:42.444 | 1:42.384 | |
| 13 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber | 1:42.746 | 1:43.074 | |
| 14 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 1:42.819 | ||
| 15 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:42.860 | ||
| 16 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham | 1:44.540 | ||
| 17 | 46 | Will Stevens | Caterham | 1:45.095 | ||
| 18 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:42.768 | ||
| 19 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo* | Red Bull | 1:42.204 | 1:41.692 | 1:41.267 |
| 20 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel* | Red Bull | 1:42.495 | 1:42.147 | 1:41.893 |
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