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Sebastien Buemi has been excluded from qualifying for the German Grand Prix after the FIA discovered an irregularity with the fuel in his Scuderia Toro Rosso car.

The Swiss driver had qualified in 16th place on the grid at the Nurburgring, just ahead of his team-mate Jaime Alguersuari.

However, in post-qualifying inspections, the FIA found that the fuel in his car did not comply with the regulations.

A statement issued by the FIA said: "The stewards, having received a report from the FIA Technical Delegate that the fuel sample taken after Qualifying from Car 18 showed an increase in one given GC (gas chromatography) Peak Area of an absolute amount greater than 0.1 per cent for the component present at a concentration below 0.8 per cent, and having heard from the FIA Formula One Analytical Chemist and the Team Representatives and examined the fuel test graphs, determine this to be a breach of Article 19.8.3 of the 2011 FIA Formula One Technical Regulations and decide to impose a penalty of exclusion of Car 18 from the results of Qualifying."

Article 19.8.3 of the F1 Technical Regulations relates to whether or not the fuel complies with the reference fuel that has to be submitted ahead of the weekend.

It states: "GC peak areas of the sample will be compared with those obtained from the reference fuel. Increases in any given peak area (relative to its adjacent peak areas) which are greater than 12 per cent, or an absolute amount greater than 0.1 per cent for compounds present at concentrations below 0.8 per cent, will be deemed not to comply.

"If a peak is detected in a fuel sample that was absent in the corresponding reference fuel, and its peak area represents more than 0.10 per cent of the summed peak areas of the fuel, the fuel will be deemed not to comply.

"If the deviations observed (above) by GC indicate that they are due to mixing with another Formula One fuel, which has been approved by the FIA for use by the team, the fuel sample will be deemed to comply, provided that the adulterant fuel is present at no more than 10 per cent in the sample."

Although Buemi has been excluded from qualifying, he will still be allowed to start from the back of the grid.

The team said the issue was triggered by a fuel pressure problem.

"During Friday's FP1, Buemi's car had a fuel pressure problem, which then got worse at the start of FP2 which is why he did not do a timed lap in that session," Toro Rosso said in a statement on Saturday evening.

"After FP2 the entire fuel system on his car was changed. When the fuel sample was taken from his car after qualifying, it did not match the one provided to the FIA prior to the start of the season.

"The team believes that some part of the new fuel system contained a chemical that contaminated the fuel and caused the non-conformity."