Lewis Hamilton Lance Stroll escape punishment for blocking; Tsunoda reprimanded

Hamilton, Mercedes, Australia, 2022 — Photo: © LAT Images

Australian Grand Prix

Hamilton Stroll escape punishment for blocking; Tsunoda reprimanded

Both were under investigation for the same incident involving Sainz

Ewan Gale

Friday 8 April 2022 13:11 Updated: 13:18

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Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll have both been cleared by the FIA race stewards after being summoned for alleged impeding during second practice for the Australian Grand Prix.

The seven-time F1 champion and Aston Martin driver were negotiating turn 13 at a reduced pace ahead of their flying laps when Ferrari's Carlos Sainz arrived on a fast lap of his own, causing the Spaniard to lose time.

Hamilton was investigated for blocking Stroll and causing the build-up of traffic but a report from the hearing read: "Due to the presence of multiple cars converging on the final corners, all of which impacted the situation, the Stewards consider that Car 44 [Hamilton] did not unnecessarily impede Car 18 and take no further action."

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Stroll was forced to come to a near-standstill at the apex of the corner with his actions the most harmful to Sainz's lap time but the stewards found the Canadian was not to blame, citing the same reasons as they did when clearing Hamilton.

The opening day of running has been fraught with blocking incidents, although only Sainz himself has been reprimanded.

Sainz topped the first practice session but was given his reprimand after blocking Guanyu Zhou.

Although Hamilton and Stroll were cleared for their incidents, AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda was not so fortunate and received his second reprimand of the season for impeding Sainz at turn two.