Lewis Hamilton avoids grid penalty in Austria after being cleared by the stewards

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton avoids grid penalty in Austria after being cleared by the stewards

It had been alleged Hamilton had avoided yellow flags

Ian Parkes

Saturday 4 July 2020 19:59

Six-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has avoided any penalty for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was in danger of being handed a three-place grid drop for ignoring yellow flags during Q3 and that were waved following an off-track excursion for Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas that kicked up clouds of dust.

In last year's Mexican Grand Prix, Max Verstappen was penalised three grid places for just such an infringement.

Article continues under video

But following a meeting with the stewards, and after reviewing video and telemetry evidence, no further action has been taken against Hamilton.

An FIA statement read: "The driver mentioned that he passed a green light panel in turn 5. The video footage confirmed that there have been yellow flags and green light panels at the same time and therefore conflicting signals were shown to the driver.

"Taking this into account, the stewards decide to take no further action."

Hamilton, meanwhile, has had his first lap time deleted for exceeding track limits after running wide at turn 10. He improved on his second run in Q3 by a tenth of a second, finishing just 0.012secs behind polesitter Bottas, and this lap stands.

It was determined that, upon review of video evidence, Hamilton left the track.

The stewards noted that "as no lap time has been achieved in the lap following the infringement, only the lap time in which the infringement had happened is being deleted."

It means Hamilton is clear to start from second on the grid.

Before you go...

Verstappen hopes for ace up sleeve against "different level" Mercedes