The FIA has reinstated all the deleted laps from the Formula 2 qualifying after a hectic post-qualifying due to track limit penalties affecting half of the top 10 finishers.
Right after the Formula 2 qualifying came to an end, the FIA decided to delete several laps affecting five out of the ten drivers within the top 10 and some more drivers on the lower part of the timing sheets.
The Stewards took these measures due to alleged track limit infringements between Turns 17 and 18 (Rivazza)
Several hours later, the Sporting government body announced its decision to reinstate the laps affected by these penalties.
It’s still unclear what the reasoning behind the decision to reinstate the lap times is and the criteria used to delete them in the first instance, as the FIA hasn’t made any public statements on the matter besides announcing they were revalidating the laps.
Neither of these decisions affected poleman Gabriel Bortoleto.
Prema got the biggest benefit out of this decision as a team, as drivers Oliver Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished the qualifying session in second and fourth, respectively.
Therefore, Bearman recovers his front-row start for the feature race on Sunday and Antonelli will start from the second row.
Behind the Prema duo, there are more drivers affected in the top 10. Hitech’s Paul Aron will get his eight position back, which will mean a second-row start in the reverse grid Sprint race tomorrow.
Franco Colapinto recovers his spot in ninth and Cordeel gets back to 10th, starting from the reverse-grid pole on the Sprint race.
Outside the top 10, Jack Crawford also got his lap back, the only one he completed due to technical issues affecting his car during qualifying. He will start from P21.
Alpine prospect Victor Martins will start both races from the last spot on the grid in P22.