What was Hulkenberg doing at the beginning of the Formation Lap?

KekeTheKing

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Near the beginning of the formation lap on Sunday we saw a Williams car go past Hamilton, with Brundle commenting on it briefly before letting Legard get on with the obligatory setup to the race. Now I've got Alonso's onboard from these moments that shows Hulkenberg coming to a brief stop at the bottom of the "S", before continuing on his way after Fernando edges by him. I'm not suggesting any rules were broken or anything, but what could Nico have possibly been doing with that maneuver?

 
I'm not sure, but I thought it was not allowed to stop or overtake in the formationlap. I thought that if someone had a problem they should rejoin at the back.
 
Here's the relevant Regulation:

38.8 Overtaking during the formation lap is only permitted if a car is delayed and cars behind cannot avoid passing it without unduly delaying the remainder of the field. In this case, drivers may only overtake to re-establish the original starting order. Any driver delayed in this way, and who is unable to re-establish the original starting order before he reaches the first safety car line, must enter the pit lane and start from the end of the pit lane as specified in Article 38.2.
Any driver who is delayed leaving the grid may not overtake another moving car if he was stationary after the remainder of the cars had crossed the Line, and must start the race from the back of the grid. If more than one driver is affected, they must form up at the back of the grid in the order they left to complete the formation lap. If the Line is not situated in front of pole position, and for the purposes of this Article as well as Articles 40.14 and 42.6, it will be deemed to be a white line one metre in front of pole position.
Either of the penalties under Articles 16.3a) or b) will be imposed on any driver who, in the opinion of the Stewards, unnecessarily overtook another car during the formation lap.


So Nico didn't break any rules in re-passing the cars that had overtaken him, but that doesn't explain what happened to him in the first place.
 
Did he slow down a bit too much and anti-stall kick in maybe? It certainly looks like he had a loss of power momentarily.. :thinking:
 
Perhaps there's a poltergeist in that area of the circuit, who likes interfering with peoples' gearbox electronics; the same poltergeist who did for Lewis Hamilton there three years ago. :whistle:
 
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