Paul Di Resta has been disqualified from qualifying at Silverstone ahead of the British Grand Prix after his car was found to be 1.5kgs underweight.

The Scot will now be deprived of his career-best qualifying position.

Force India are shifting blame to a discrepancy in Di Resta’s weight after qualifying since the driver and car count together.

The FIA has said that Di Resta will now move to they back of the grid would move to the back of the grid, but he may well be forced to start from the pits.

If the team need to add anything to the car to make up its weight, that would be considered a setup change, which is not allowed under Formula One parc ferme regulations.

It may make more sense for him to start from the pit lane either way – which will allow him to start on fresh tyres and change to a race setup.

Force India have decided not to appeal against the decision. This despite the discrepancy with Di Resta’s weight. Apparently he weighed less than expected on the FIA scales after qualifying but team boss Bob Fernley said that when he was weighed again later he was back to his normal weight. The weight of the driver and car together must be at least 642kg in order to comply with regulations.

Before the problem came to light, Di Resta said he was “shocked” he had been able to qualify so well, saying he had driven the lap as well as he could have. “That was it,” he said. “There wasn’t any more. It takes a lot of commitment and it’s satisfying when you get it done.”

He had qualified a career best 5th position.