Nyck de Vries has been given permission to take part in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix despite falling foul of Formula 1's 107 per cent rule.
A hectic qualifying session was promised and Friday's event certainly didn't disappoint. Q1 in particular was incident-hit with two separate red flag periods caused by crashes in that first part of the session.
The first was caused by De Vries, who wanted to stay out of trouble but couldn't manage it. He came into turn three too hot and didn't bail out into the run-off area – resulting in the nose of his AlphaTauri being buried in the Tec-pro barrier and a sizeable repair job required overnight.
He was the only driver who was yet to set a representative time in the session, and so it means he will start Sunday's race from last place. De Vries needed permission to do that, as his quickest time was not within 107% of the fastest Q1 lap.
But, these days, such decisions are little more than a formality. As expected, the stewards have granted the Dutchman permission to line up on the grid alongside his rivals on Sunday, as they did with Logan Sargeant when he failed to qualify for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in March.
An official statement from the FIA read: "The stewards have received a request from Scuderia AlphaTauri to allow car 21 [De Vries] to start the race despite failing to set a qualifying time within 107% of the fastest time set in Q1.
"In accordance with Article 39.3 of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations, the stewards grant permission for car 21, Nyck de Vries, to start the race, as the driver has set satisfactory times in practice at this event."
AlphaTauri's day will have been made better by an excellent qualifying performance from their other driver. Yuki Tsunoda went eighth fastest in Q3 to put himself in a strong position to add to his first point of the season, secured last time out in Melbourne.
For De Vries, Saturday's Sprint offers a chance for him to make up for his mistake. Points in the main race will be difficult for the Dutchman, but there is now a separate qualifying session for the Sprint on Saturday morning, in which he can put himself in a stronger position for that short-form race.
