Lewis Hamilton will be investigated by the Brazilian Grand Prix stewards for an alleged infringement of the double-waved yellow flags caused by his Ferrari Formula 1 team-mate Charles Leclerc spinning in sprint qualifying.
Leclerc locked up into the Turn 9 right-hander then spun trying to get on throttle on the dirty outside line during SQ2, coming to a rest on the right-side of the track.
That sparked a brief double-waved yellow in that section of the track just as Hamilton was approaching, so his laptime was invalidated, and he lamented afterwards: "Yeah, every time, mate."
A driver automatically has a laptime invalidated if a double-waved yellow is shown during the sector they are in, to discourage drivers from not adhering to the flag and continuing to push when there could be a hazard on track.
Hamilton will be investigated after the session for an alleged yellow-flag infringement.
Although the lap was invalidated, Hamilton actually completed it - but it was a tenth slower than his previous best. The 1m09.934s he set on the invalidated lap would only have been 14th-fastest and Hamilton was eliminated in 11th.
Hamilton's radio message implied he had lost out because of the yellow flag but the stewarding summons, Hamilton's onboard footage, and timing information suggest there is a question mark over whether he slowed down enough anyway.
According to the timing data on the lap, Hamilton's mini-sector through the Leclerc spin was a personal best, so he improved in that part of the lap.
A mini-sector spans several seconds so the stewards will examine Hamilton's data more thoroughly to determine whether he responded appropriately to whatever double-waved yellow warning he got, or even to the sight of Leclerc's recovering car ahead of him.
Hamilton's second sector overall was not faster - it was 0.16s slower than Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber, which ended up 10th fastest - then his final sector was a personal best.
Leclerc made it into SQ3 despite his spin but was only quick enough to qualify eighth for Saturday's sprint race.
