Wehrlein loses FE Paris pole as both Mahindra drivers disqualified

Nissan e.dams now locks out the front row of the grid for Saturday's race, with Oliver Rowland starting on pole ahead of Sebastien Buemi.

The two Mahindra cars were the only machines not to be cleared from parc ferme, with an FIA document later stating that the disqualification is due to "non-respect of the minimum tyre pressure" rule.

It means Wehrlein now starts 22nd behind D'Ambrosio with the two Mahindras placed behind Dragon Racing's Jose Maria Lopez, who was given dispensation to start the race after failing to set a time within 107% of the benchmark time in qualifying.

According to an FIA bulletin, the tyre pressures on the two Mahindra cars were "measured twice after qualifying and once after superpole and [were] between 1.48 and 1.56-bar instead of a minimum of 1.60-bar".

"Even under consideration of the outside temperature of the track and the time the car has been checked after arrival in the pitlane," the statement continued, "the tyre pressure was not in compliance with the Michelin Pilot Sport Tyre working range."

Team manager Joan Orus explained the cause of Mahindra's infringement related to the squad's tyre pressure calibration tool.

He told Autosport: "We have made a mistake.

"The tools that we are using to check the tyre pressure seems [to be] wrong - maybe not good calibration.

"[It's] probably worse when it is cold like today.

"There is a big gap between the official one and the tool that we use to measure the tyre pressure.

"So clearly for us, everything [was] OK and [with] the regulations, but 0.04 [under] than the official one.

"So we are completely out of the rules because our tools were not correct."

When asked if there was any performance advantage from the tyre pressures being low, Orus said: "Sure it's a performance advantage, but much more when it is hot - so it's a big help in races like Sanya or like Santiago de Chile.

"Here it's [a] really low advantage because it's really cold.

"So it's just a mistake from our side."

Starting grid