The Qatar Grand Prix ended after a few meters for Lewis Hamilton, who reluctantly made contact with his teammate during the first lap in the phases following the start. While George Russell’s car managed to return to the pits only with a puncture, thus being able to continue the race after a pit stop to replace tyres, on the contrary the seven-time world champion remained stuck in the gravel, thus having to exit scene.
At that point, Hamilton got out of the car and quickly returned to his garage, just a few meters away from the accident site, taking advantage of a moment in which no other cars were passing. However, to do so he crossed the track on foot, which is prohibited by the regulations. For this reason, the Briton was immediately summoned by the commissioners as per practice, in order to explain what had happened.
Following the investigation, he was then handed his first warning of the season and a fine of €50,000, of which €25,000 was suspended for the remainder of the championship, provided no further infringements of a similar nature occur.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14 after the accident
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
But a week after the accident, the FIA announced it would review the matter because it believes the accident was much more serious than initially thought. The intent would not per se focus on inflicting a heavier penalty on Hamilton, but rather on whether the sanctions generally imposed for crossing the track during the race should be more severe in the future as a matter of safety. The investigation would therefore have the aim of establishing a precedent and guidelines for the future, as well as examining the behavior of the Mercedes driver in the specific case.
An FIA spokesperson said: “The FIA is reviewing the incident in which Lewis Hamilton crossed the track during the Qatar Grand Prix. The FIA notes that Lewis apologized at the subsequent stewards’ hearing into the incident and acknowledged that the crossing represented a serious breach of safety. However, given his role model status, the FIA is concerned about the impression his actions may have created on younger drivers.”
Although it is unlikely that Hamilton will be given a greater sanction for the incident, especially after the weekend and with several previous episodes, it is likely that the outcome of the FIA review will help to define a clear directive in case situations like that of the Englishman arise repeat in the future, with a clear warning to all pilots.
In issuing the original warning and fine to Hamilton, the FIA had underlined the dangerousness of Hamilton’s actions, underlining that they believed that the explanation provided could represent a sufficient deterrent in the future.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“After an accident on the first lap, the driver of car 44 abandoned the car in the gravel and returned to the pits. In this way he crossed the track and reached the inside edge of the track a few seconds before the 63 car [Russell] arrived at high speed after exiting the pits. He then continued walking along the track until he came out,” read the statement released at the time by the Federation.
“During the hearing the driver of car 44 [Hamilton] he was very apologetic and understood that the situation could have been very dangerous for him and the approaching pilots. The Stewards reiterated that crossing a moving track can cause extremely dangerous situations and drivers must be very cautious”.
Furthermore, it is important to keep in mind that upon reaching a certain number of reprimands over the course of the season, whether they are related to driving or not, each driver risks a fine of ten places on the starting grid.
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