Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda have been called to the stewards following Sprint qualifying at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Both drivers have been summoned under the allegation of exceeding the maximum time delta between Safety Car lines during Sprint qualifying, alongside a ‘failure to follow the instructions of the relevant officials’.

Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda summoned following Qatar GP Sprint qualifying

Both the Red Bull and VCARB driver were knocked out in SQ1 respectively in a busy session, with a maximum time of 1:40.0 set for the drivers to go around a lap of Lusail between Safety Car lines.

While 16 drivers were looked at for 38 instances of the maximum lap time being exceeded, only Perez and Tsunoda have been called to the stewards as a result, with their hearings set to take place on Saturday.

In offering their reasoning for the other 38 laps not facing further action, the FIA wrote: “In all the above cases the Stewards determined that the drivers took appropriate actions to not impede other drivers, and where required slowed down significantly to allow other drivers to pass while giving those drivers a clear track.

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“The Stewards therefore determine that the drivers concerned did not drive “unnecessarily slowly”, and that evidently the reason they were above the maximum time was due to their appropriate actions and take no further action.”

Perez and Tsunoda will both wait to see the stewards over their alleged breach of this rule alongside a breach of Article 12.2.1 i) of the FIA International Sporting Code, which reads: “Failure to follow the instructions of the relevant officials for the safe and orderly conduct of the Event.”

The Mexican will see the stewards at 2pm local time on Saturday, with Tsunoda’s summons taking place 10 minutes later.

Perez is due to start the Sprint from 16th while Tsunoda qualified 17th on Friday night, just four thousandths of a second behind the Red Bull driver.

Perez explained his belief that tussling for track position with Charles Leclerc cost him on Friday night, with another early exit costing him.

He said after the session: “Unfortunately, we left [the garage] a little bit late. We had an issue with one of the anti-roll bars.

“And then to get my final lap, we were all opening gaps And then Charles came.

“We were fighting into Turn 1 and so on, lost a couple of tenths there, enough to be knocked out unfortunately.

“It was a shame because I felt like we really progressed with the car from FP1 to qualifying.

“We had a lot more potential, and it’s a shame that we just ended up here.”

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