Horner questions Nico Rosberg’s fastest lap (Update)
Rosberg was alleged to have not slowed sufficiently for yellow flags, which were showing at Turn 8, after McLaren's Fernando Alonso had just recovered from a spin at Turn 9.
Rosberg went on to take pole position courtesy of the lap, edging in front of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Several hours after qualifying finished it was confirmed that the stewards would be investigating the incident, with Rosberg and a team representative called to explain what happened.
Eventually, the stewards cleared Rosberg of wrongdoing.
"The telemetry demonstrated that the driver reduced speed significantly into Turn 8," read the report.
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| Christian Horner |
07/23/16
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has questioned whether or not Nico Rosberg's pole lap should count, as the German set the fastest time under double-waved yellow flags.
During the final seconds of the session, the yellows were brought out for Fernando Alonso who span ahead of Lewis Hamilton, prompting the Briton to slow, despite having recorded the quickest first sector.
Daniel Ricciardo was also forced to back off as he passed Alonso's McLaren, spoiling both his and Hamilton's lap. Rosberg however, who arrived after Ricciardo, improved on his time and posted the quickest middle sector despite the yellow flags.
Although Mercedes' chief Toto Wolff insists Rosberg lifted sufficiently, Horner wants the stewards to review the footage.
"[Rosberg] had a big lift into the yellow zone, lost quite some time," Wolff told he told Sky Sports. "But then at the end the yellow zone was gone. It should be OK from our data."
Horner was skeptical, adding: "One thing I couldn't understand which I need to check is Rosberg was behind Daniel, and managed to get a purple middle sector. I don't know if they had it cleared by the time he got there…."
When he was told Rosberg had lifted according to Mercedes, he replied: "With that sort of laptime? That's down to the stewards to decide."