Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr will both take grid penalties for Sunday’s German Grand Prix after misdemeanours during Saturday’s qualifying session at the Hockenheimring.
Sahara Force India’s Hülkenberg was handed a one-place penalty after his team used a set of tyres that were without the ‘appropriate identification’, having incorrectly returned the wrong set of tyres during the weekend, with the tyres in question being used during Q1.
The penalty sees the German drop from seventh to eighth on the grid, with the Williams of Valtteri Bottas moving up as a result.
Sainz will drop three places on the grid having been found guilty of impeding the Williams of Felipe Massa during Q2, with the Scuderia Toro Rosso driver having got in the Brazilian’s way at turn two as Massa was starting a quick lap.
Despite jumping on the grass in a bid to get out of his way, Sainz was found to have delayed Massa enough to warrant the penalty, and will drop from thirteenth to sixteenth on the grid, with Fernando Alonso, Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen all profiting from the penalty.
The stewards also handed the Spaniard two penalty points on his Superlicence, taking his total to four.
