FIA announce Lewis Hamilton penalty verdict after Ferrari mistake at Brazilian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has been handed a boost heading into the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday following a meeting with the FIA stewards

The Ferrari driver endured a rotten Friday, having been eliminated in the second qualifying session for the sprint race after missing out on the top 10 in 11th place.

But his afternoon quickly got worse following an alleged infringement under double waved yellow flags, leading to an FIA investigation.

After his team-mate Charles Leclerc made a mistake by spinning his Ferrari heading towards turn 11, Hamilton was clearly seen passing the digital board showing yellow flags on the entrance to turn 10.

However, Hamilton was already looking at the corner to turn into by the time the yellows started flashing. Even so, on exit of the corner, Hamilton showed no sign of slowing down despite Leclerc facing the wrong way on the edge of the track in a dangerous position.

Despite what seemingly looked like a straight forward penalty for one offence or another, the seven-time champion was given a reprimand by the stewards meaning he wouldn't get a grid drop for the sprint race.

Lewis Hamilton given reprimand by the FIA

The stewards acting on behalf of the FIA said: "During the hearing, HAM explained that he did not see the light signal. The onboard footage confirms that the signal was only illuminated for a fraction of a second before Hamilton passed it.

"As the driver’s focus was clearly on the turn-in-point, he was looking to the right-hand side of the track, thus the Stewards find it credible that he did not actually perceive the signal.

"However, Hamilton acknowledged during the hearing that he saw Car 16 (Leclerc) stationary at the side of the track and could see a green light signal being displayed beyond that point. He therefore had to realise that he was at least in a yellow sector and as a consequence had to reduce speed discernibly.

"Looking into the telemetry, the Stewards found that the driver reacted by hesitating whilst applying the throttle, but did not reduce speed as required.

"In similar circumstances in the past, the Stewards have deemed it appropriate to impose a reprimand rather than the standard five-place grid penalty specified in the guidelines. In terms of consistency, the Stewards consider a reprimand to be sufficient in this case as well."

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Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

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