The start of the Sprint Race on Saturday morning was quite eventful: an aggressive move on the inside by the Mercedes driver triggered a carambola.
On the outside, Fernando Alonso attempted to leave space and grazed Lance Stroll, before being hit by Hamilton and locked in by his Aston Martin teammate, who then sent Lando Norris into a spin, with the McLaren standard bearer to raise the white flag.
Stroll also retired shortly afterwards due to damage sustained, while Alonso had to stop to change tires after having a puncture.
Hamilton was able to continue without any problems but, despite finishing eighth, was ultimately ousted from the points due to a speeding infringement in the pitlane.
After the race, Alonso thundered that Hamilton would avoid punishment because he was “not Spanish” – a reference to the fact that he himself had received sanctions for his driving in Australia and China, where he believed he had done nothing wrong .
In a statement subsequently released by the FIA stewards, they explained that they had decided not to take action mainly because it was impossible to judge that a single driver was “predominantly or totally” responsible for what happened.
The statement states that: “From the video evidence it emerged that at least three collisions occurred: the first between cars 14 (Alonso) and 18 (Stroll), then between car 44 (Hamilton) and car 14 and finally between car 18 and the 4 (Norris)”.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR24, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24, and Sir Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15, collide at the start of the Sprint
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
“Although it appeared to us that the accidents began with cars 14 and 18, the sudden and rapid arrival of car 44 contributed to the various collisions. However, we were unable to identify one or more drivers who were wholly or predominantly responsible of the various collisions or any of them”.
The stewards also stated that they treated the incidents at the first corner with some leniency compared to incidents later in the race.
“Also taking into account the fact that it was an accident at Turn 1 on the first lap, where the drivers are given greater freedom of manoeuvre, we took no further action.”
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