Nico Hulkenberg has been handed a three-place grid penalty for the Chinese Grand Prix after losing a wheel during qualifying.
The Force India driver lost his front left wheel towards the end of Q2, with the tyre bouncing along the barrier after it detached at Turn 10. Hulkenberg was 10th at the time and the resulting red flag ensured he progressed to Q3, although he was unable to run in the final session.
Following the end of qualifying, the stewards gave the Force India driver a three-place grid penalty as a result of the car being released in "an unsafe condition".
Hulkenberg, however, says the incident appears to be a component failure rather than an error from his pit crew.
“I mean the wheel just came off, there’s not much you feel!" Hulkenberg said. "Usually there is a bit of vibration going on and you can tell something is not right but this one was very sudden and it came off. One minute it was on and the next minute it was off.
"There was no mistakes with the wheel being put on, I think it happened after that once it was out there.”
Despite the problem, Hulkenberg was left encouraged by the progress made by Force India throughout the weekend.
"I qualified eighth in Bahrain as well it was just a very unfortunate race with some bad things happening you know. Everyone seems to think they can take Bahrain Sunday now as the reference but it’s not. But I think we’ve made some improvements with the car and set-up as well so it should be hopefully back to normal here."
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AS IT HAPPENED: Chinese Grand Prix - Qualifying
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