ART appeal Hulkenberg's exclusion

The German's car was found to be 3kg under the 540kg minimum weight limit but the team claim that his on-board fire extinguisher went off accidentally during the race.

The scrutineers accepted the explanation, but a source told this week's Autosport that the weight of the foam in the system only added up to 2.6kg, which still leaves a 0.4kg deficit.

More doubt was cast over Hulkenberg because Manor Motorsport's Koudai Tsukakoshi suffered a similar failure and was forced to pull into the pits covered in foam, while Hulkenberg completed the race and emerged from his car with clean overalls.

"My visor suddenly became wet," he told Autosport. "I thought it was raining but when I wiped it I realised it wasn't water.

"I didn't look like Tsukakoshi when I got out because I kept going and it dried out. But it was cold and didn't smell very nice."

ART boss Frederic Vasseur added: "It was strange, the extinguishant went mainly into the engine bay and not into the cockpit.

"We were underweight, but the reason was clear, so that's why we appealed."

The disqualification dropped Hulkenberg to fourth in the standings, 14 points behind championship leader Edoardo Mortara. The Dutch motorsport authority will decide on the outcome of ART's appeal.