F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Pit lane start for Ericsson due to new chassis

Marcus Ericsson will start the Hungarian Grand Prix from the pit lane after needing a new chassis as a result of his crash in qualifying.

During a wet Q1 session, Ericsson lost control on full wet tyres at Turn 10 and hit the barrier on the outside of the circuit, damaging the front right corner of the car. Sauber needed to change the survival cell after the impact, resulting in Ericsson being forced to start the race from the pit lane.

The Swede had originally qualified in 20th on the grid, with only Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto behind him. Haryanto himself also crashed at the same corner later in Q1, which requires a gearbox change.

While Haryanto's new gearbox carries an automatic five-place grid penalty as it has been changed before the end of the six consecutive races it is required to complete, the Manor driver will still start from last on the grid.

The rest of the grid remains unchanged despite confusion over the application of the 107% rule, with the FIA citing "exceptional circumstances" as the reason for allowing the Red Bulls, Force Indias and Valtteri Bottas to start from their qualifying positions.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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