FIA reveal 'too small' grid boxes as Hamilton escapes sprint penalty

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Brazil, 2022 — Photo: © LAT Images

São Paulo Grand Prix

FIA reveal 'too small' grid boxes as Hamilton escapes sprint penalty

Hamilton will start in an all-Mercedes front row

Ewan Gale

Saturday 12 November 2022 23:58 Updated: 12:45

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Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and Zhou Guanyu have escaped penalty for a race-start infringement at the São Paulo Grand Prix sprint.

The Silver Arrows enjoyed a stunning 24-lap event at Interlagos, with George Russell emerging victorious from a battle with Max Verstappen to finish first, ahead of Carlos Sainz and team-mate Hamilton.

The seven-time champion made his way to third from eighth on the grid to underline the W13's pace in Brazil, though provisionally moves up alongside Russell due to Sainz's penalty for an ICE change in his Ferrari.

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But Hamilton was one of three drivers to have been noted by the FIA race stewards for a race-start infringement, though it was later revealed the trio were never placed under investigation.

The stewards' report read: "The stewards reviewed the start sequence, as it was observed that multiple cars were potentially out of their grid box in violation of Article 8.6.1.a) of the FIA International Sporting Code, being either to the left or right of the grid box.

"Having reviewed all available angles of video, and making measurements on the grid, the stewards noted that the grid boxes were slightly smaller than usual and that the drivers’ visibility makes compliance extremely difficult and that no driver was in a position that gained any advantage.

"The stewards are therefore satisfied to take no further action."

Before the revelation, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin had hinted at a potential sensor issue triggering the scare.

"I wasn't talking to race control, they have deferred that so they will look into it," Shovlin told Sky Sports F1.

"It may be linked to positioning in the box but we have the onboard and it looks like he [Hamilton] was very, very conservative in where we positioned it in terms of the line.

"So whether it was a sensor issue, I don't know but from the image we have seen, there doesn't seem to be any hint that we were outside of that box."