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Turkish Grand Prix pole winner Lance Stroll is among the Formula 1 drivers summoned to the stewards after qualifying over a potential yellow flag infringement.
Stroll claimed what provisionally stands as his maiden F1 pole in a wet session, narrowly defeating Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.
However, he is now being investigated for “allegedly non-respecting yellow flags at Turn 7” and an “alleged non-compliance with race director’s event notes (single waved yellow flags)”.
The timing of his alleged offence suggests it took place in the third qualifying segment.
It is not immediately clear which incident triggered the single-waved yellow flags in question, but Stroll mentioned that he “had a Mercedes [believed to be Valtteri Bottas] in front of me that spun, I still improved even with that” on his first intermediate-tyre attempt in Q3.
McLaren driver Lando Norris has also been summoned over the same offence, albeit apparently in Q1.
“I backed off for those yellow flags, everyone seemed to be improving. Clearly nobody gave an F” :: Kevin Magnussen
A pair of red flags – one for the weather conditions and one for Romain Grosjean’s off – meant the F1 field faced a late dash in Q1, with the track massively improved but only enough time to record a single laptime.
Yellow flags popped up twice after the resumption of the session, with Daniil Kvyat causing one with a spin early in the lap but swiftly rejoining the track, yet Nicholas Latifi then getting his Williams beached in the gravel at Turn 8.
Kevin Magnussen, who was seventh at the time of the red flag but was shuffled down to 16th and denied a Q2 spot by the end of the first segment, was left incensed at other drivers potentially not slowing for yellow flags.
“There was a yellow flag all of the lap and everyone improved,” Magnussen said.
“I backed off for those yellow flags, everyone seemed to be improving. I was P7 and I got knocked out so clearly nobody gave an F.”
Magnussen felt that the matter should’ve been investigated before the start of Q2, as it would now not be possible to rectify the impact of potentially illegal laps with standard grid drops of three or five places.
“I backed off, the track was better so you were going to improve but there was a double yellow flag,” he reiterated
“The rules say you have to abort the lap, nobody did so and then they don’t look at it in session so I’m knocked out. I’m pretty annoyed about that.
“If this is the norm then I can’t justify backing off, I’d rather get through and then get a penalty after – so it’s dangerous.”
