Hamilton and three other drivers avoid Russian GP penalties

Lewis Hamilton, Nicholas Latifi, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen have all avoided penalties for the Russian Grand Prix after an investigation by the stewards into a track infringement.

The four drivers were summoned post-qualifying to explain why they failed to heed the event notes of FIA race director Michael Masi regarding his instruction relating to turn two at the Sochi Autodrom.

During qualifying, the quartet went off track at the second corner, but in doing so were obliged to make their way back on track after snaking their way through a makeshift chicane comprising polystyrene blocks. None did so.

The stewards, however, decided to take no further action against the quartet, ensuring Mercedes driver Hamilton will start from pole for the 96th time in his F1 career.

In all four cases, the stewards stated that: "The driver left the track at turn 2 and did not manage to re-join the track as defined in the event notes.

"The driver accepted that he had not followed the instructions and further he accepted that in a race there would be a penalty.

"The stewards determined that there was no advantage, as the relevant lap time was deleted.

"Furthermore, to be consistent with previous decisions, the stewards considered the precedents set out in the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix and the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix."

The stewards have made clear to all drivers, however, a repeat of the infringement during the race "will likely lead to a 5-sec time penalty".

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