Charles Leclerc has been disqualified from Qualifying for the Formula 2 Feature Race at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and has lost his record seventh consecutive pole position as a result.
19-year-old Prema Powerteam racer Leclerc had qualified on pole by 0.463s from Oliver Rowland, but in scrutineering after the session, "it was discovered that his car used shims in the differential which did not comply with the material requirements laid out in the Dallara User Manual."
As he breached Article 9.2 of the F2 Technical Regulations, "the stewards had no choice but to disqualify" the runaway championship leader.
Speaking to Autosport, Ferrari Academy driver Leclerc said: "To be honest, I don't really mind, I'm actually quite happy to start last.
"Budapest is not the easiest track (to overtake), but I will give my best."
The decision to strip Leclerc of his seventh consecutive pole means that Saturday's race will be the first one which the Monegasque driver will not have started from pole since the series was rebranded as Formula 2 from GP2 during the off-season of 2016/2017.
It means that McLaren Formula 1 racer Stoffel Vandoorne and Leclerc remain equal on six consecutive poles.
Britain's Rowland, who is a Renault junior driver will inherit his first Pole Position in F2 and the four bonus points which are awarded for it.
Camara also penalised
Leclerc was not the only driver to be given a penalty, as Brazilian Sergio Sette Camara was handed a three place penalty by the stewards after he was adjudged to have impeded Rowland's DAMS team-mate Nicholas Latifi during the 30-minute qualifying session.
Position | Driver | Team |
POLE | Oliver Rowland | DAMS |
2nd | Artem Markelov | Russian Time |
3rd | Jordan King | MP Motorsport |
4th | Antonio Fuoco | Prema Powerteam |
5th | Norman Nato | Pertamina Arden |
6th | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS |
7th | Nyck de Vries | Rapax |
8th | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix |
9th | Sergio Canamasas | Rapax |
10th | Santino Ferrucci | Trident |
11th | Alexander Albon | ART Grand Prix |
12th | Luca Ghiotto | Russian Time |
13th | Robert Visoiu | Campos Racing |
14th | Ralph Boschung | Campos Racing |
15th | Louis Deletraz | Racing Engineering |
16th | Gustav Malja | Racing Engineering |
17th | Nabil Jeffri | Trident |
18th | Sergio Sette Camara * Three place Grid penalty applied for impeding Nicholas Latifi | MP Motorsport |
19th | Charles Leclerc *Disqualified from qualifying after car failed post-session scrutineering checks. | Prema Powerteam |
20th | Sean Gelael *No Time Set in Qualifying, will need to apply to the stewards for permission to race. | Pertamina Arden |