Haas had looked strong all weekend, with Hulkenberg in the top three in FP2 and both drivers in the top 10 by the end of the final practice hour. Come qualifying, and while it was a tougher session for Kevin Magnussen after knocking over a bollard on track, Hulkenberg was consistently in the running, taking provisional pole at one point.

Reacting to his P4 finish on Sky Sports F1, Hulkenberg said: “I had a good feeling from P1 yesterday and had a good idea that top 10 was definitely possible this weekend. But that good? No, I did not expect.”

But an investigation by the stewards into a breach of article 12.2.1 i) of the International Sporting Code and Note 12.4 of the Race Director’s Event Notes for the weekend has led to a 3-place grid drop penalty for Hulkenberg – demoting him to P7 and meaning he loses his best qualifying result with Haas, and grid spot since 2020.

The stewards document notes that the driver stated that “he had no other option but to breach the rules in order to get a lap in”, with video showing that he overtook two cars in the tunnel section of the pit exit road.

The document reads, “Whilst the Stewards acknowledge that the position of the team’s garages limits their options to send the cars out on track, this can never be used as an excuse to breach any regulations.”

Despite this setback on his final weekend with the Haas squad, Hulkenberg showed impressive pace on his soft tyre long run during Friday’s representative practice session – something he also spoke to today:

“We have shown all year that it’s not the quali car anymore, that we are good on Sundays too, so I think there’s all to play for tomorrow.

“It’s obviously going to be a challenge. There are a bunch of very similar-paced cars behind us and obviously a few faster ones with Max and Checo and the Ferrari [Leclerc], so I expect a challenging tough race.”