Hulkenberg had initially progressed through the opening phase of Qualifying before his best Q1 time was deleted some 45 minutes after the fact.

Without that time, the Sauber driver should have been eliminated at the end of the session’s first segment, and Alex Albon progress instead.

Stewards issued a report on the incident which explained that the matter hadn’t been referred to them until after Q2 had commenced.

However, they failed to offer any explanation for the delay in the first place.

Williams boss frustrated after deleted lap controversy

The FIA has since issued a statement explaining the delay and admitting it was wrong.

“There are a number of track limit hot spots which are monitored continuously live,” the statement explained.

“Track limit hot spots are given precedence. Based on previous sessions, Turn 11 was not deemed to be an area of focus for track limits.

“In hindsight, it should have been higher on our priority list as a corner.

“Checks in areas of the circuit such as Turn 11 take a bit longer than those of a high priority.

“Unfortunately, in this case due to the timing of the check it was not possible to act before the start of Q2.

“As soon as we became aware of the incident, we acted on it.

“We are building towards increased resources and improved systems and processes.

“On this occasion, we got it wrong.”

While Hulkenberg’s time was eventually deleted and the Qualifying classification updated with his new starting position, it was not possible to address the full effects of that decision had.

It means Hulkenberg is poised to start 16th on the grid, with Albon in 15th and Esteban Ocon, who triggered a red flag when he crashed out without setting a lap in Qualifying 2, will line up 14th.