McLaren has protested the Austrian Grand Prix qualifying result as it does not believe the evidence proves “beyond reasonable doubt” that Oscar Piastri’s laptime should have been deleted.

Piastri lost a third-place start at the Red Bull Ring after his fastest time in Q3 was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 6, the first left-hander towards the end of the middle sector.

He is due to start seventh instead, although that could change as McLaren has taken issue with the deletion based on the available evidence.

McLaren was summoned - and any other “concerned parties” invited to attend - to a hearing that was scheduled to start at 7.35pm local time on Saturday.

Team principal Andrea Stella explained that McLaren wants clarity on whether the car exceeded track limits “beyond any reasonable doubt” as he said this is one of two principles the FIA must prove when applying a penalty.

“One is that the system used needs to have adequate resolution,” he said.

“And the second one is that the methodology used for one car needs to be applicable to all cars.”