Lewis stripped of poleposted in F112 | 05 | 2012

McLAREN'S LEWIS HAMILTON has been sensationally stripped of his pole position for tomorrow's Spanish Grand Prix. The decision by the race stewards promotes Pastor Maldonado to his first ever pole for Williams. Scotland's Paul di Resta now lines up 12th.

After clocking 1min 21.707secs, the fastest time in today's Q3, Hamilton was instructed by his team to stop the car on the track before returning to the pits.

Once the car was returned to the scrutineers on the back of a flatbed truck, the McLaren was found to not have had enough fuel on board to comply with the FIA's rules. These state a car must return to the pits under its own power after qualifying with enough petrol for a one-litre sample to be provided to the FIA.

Stopping deliberately because there is not enough fuel to finish the tour and supply that sample is not acceptable.

Hamilton will now start the race from the back of the 24-car grid. And the former world champ has vowed to 'race his heart out' to try and come through from the back of the grid.

Scots F1 ace Paul di Resta faces "tough day" in Spain

"This is such a disappointment," a furious Hamilton stated. "Today's qualifying session was one of the best I've ever driven — the whole car was just rolling so smoothly — it felt fantastic.

"But, on my slowing-down lap, my engineers told me to stop on the track, and I didn't know why. Later, to hear that I'd been excluded from qualifying, was of course extremely disappointing.

"But, now, looking ahead to tomorrow, I think it's clear it's going to be an incredibly tough race for us. Even so, as always, I'll never give up and I'll give it everything I've got. It would mean so much to me to get a good result here in Spain: it's such a pleasure to come here and the support I get is amazing.

"As I always say, and as I always do, whatever grid position I start a grand prix from, I'll always race my heart out."

McLaren officials has originally tried to argue the problems with Hamilton's car were a result of 'force majeure', but stewards decided the facts proved otherwise.

"The stewards received a report from the Race Director," stewards said in a statement, "which stated that during post-qualifying scrutineering a sample of fuel was required from car 4, however, the car failed to return to the pits under its own power as required under Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton on pole at Barcelona

"The Stewards heard from the team representative Mr Sam Michael who stated that the car stopped on the circuit for reasons of force majeure. A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount for sampling purposes.

"As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the Competitor the Stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure.

"The Stewards determine that this is a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations and the Competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the Qualifying Session. The Competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid."

Formula One, Spanish Grand Prix — Revised Grid:

1. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault

2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari

3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault

4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault

5. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari

6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes

7. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault

8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes

9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari

10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes

11. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault

12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes

13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes

14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari

15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari

16. Felipe Massa Ferrari

17. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault

18. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault

19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault

20. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth

21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth

22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth

23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth

24. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes

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Jim McGill