Lewis Hamilton escaped a penalty for inflicting his first lap collision with teammate George Russell on the Qatar Grand Prix, however was reprimanded and fined for crossing the circuit after the incident.
The 2 Mercedes drivers collided in Flip 1 as Hamilton tried to go Russell and Max Verstappen across the outdoors within the opening nook of the race.
Hamilton later took full duty for the accident in a put up on social media, whereas Mercedes launched a video of the 2 drivers embracing and apologising for the incident after the race.
The stewards investigated the collision, however deemed it a primary lap incident that was unfit of a penalty.
A press release mentioned: “While the argument could be made that Automobile 44 [Hamilton] was predominantly at fault, the stewards, considering that the incident occurred in lap one and several other vehicles have been concerned, decide that the incident is taken into account as a typical “lap one, Flip 1″ incident and no driver is wholly at fault. Due to this fact no additional motion is taken.”
The incident noticed Hamilton’s race come to an finish within the Flip 1 gravel entice whereas Russell was in a position to proceed and ultimately completed fourth.
To get again to the pits, Hamilton walked throughout the circuit whereas vehicles have been circulating behind the security automotive and was near obstructing Russell as his teammate rejoined the pack.
The stewards reprimanded Hamilton for his actions and fined him 50,000 Euros — 25,000 Euros of which is suspended for the rest of the season on the situation an analogous breach doesn’t happen.
“After crashing out of the race in lap one, the driving force of Automobile 44 deserted his automotive within the gravel and ran again to the pits,” the stewards mentioned in an announcement. “He thereby crossed the observe that was dwell at