Melbourne, March 26 (DPA) Formula One minnows Hispania had an exemption request turned down by race stewards which will keep their drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan out of Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.
Liuzzi and Karthikeyan were tail-enders in Saturday's qualifying and ineligible to race because under the re-introduced "107 per cent" rule they were more than seven per cent slower than session winner Sebastian Vettel.
Hispania made use of an "exceptional circumstances" clause within the rule to get their drivers on the grid after all, but were turned down. Liuzzi missed the cut-off by around 1.7 seconds, Karthikeyan by just over three seconds.
Hispania only completed their car in Melbourne without running it in pre-season tests, and only managed a few laps in Friday practice.