Lewis Hamilton punished as F1 officials find him | Sports News

Despite being discovered guilty of not slowing down for yellow flags during the Sprint race qualifying on the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton managed to keep away from a grid penalty. The incident occurred during the second half of Friday’s session when his team-mate Charles Leclerc spun off the monitor.

Hamilton’s Ferrari onboard cameras confirmed him rushing by that part of the Interlagos circuit with none noticeable discount in pace. Double-waved yellow flags require drivers to gradual down and be ready to stop, however the seven-time champion did not adhere to this as he raced in direction of the start-finish line.

The stewards confirmed that Hamilton violated the principles and did not adequately gradual down for these yellow flags. However, as an alternative of a grid penalty, the stewards determined that a reprimand – the 40 yr previous’s first of the season – was an satisfactory punishment.

They said: “Towards the end of Q2, Car 16 [Leclerc] spun at the exit of turn 10, triggering double waved yellow flags. Shortly afterwards, Car 44 [Hamilton] approached the same corner and was just turning in when the double yellow light panels were activated on the left-hand side of the track.

“During the listening to, HAM defined that he didn’t see the sunshine signal. The onboard footage confirms that the signal was solely illuminated for a fraction of a second earlier than HAM handed 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, HAM acknowledged during the listening to that he noticed LEC stationary on the aspect of the monitor and will see a inexperienced mild signal being displayed past that time. He due to this fact needed to understand that he was at the least in a yellow sector and as a consequence needed to scale back pace 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 related circumstances prior to now, the stewards have deemed it applicable to impose a reprimand somewhat than the usual five-place grid penalty specified within the pointers. In phrases of consistency, the Stewards think about a reprimand to be adequate on this case as effectively.”

Hamilton began Saturday’s Sprint from eleventh place – having failed to succeed in the start-finish line, the British driver could not clock a lap time fast enough to advance into SQ3. Lando Norris began from pole place with McLaren teammate and championship contender Oscar Piastri beginning third, whereas Max Verstappen was pressured to just accept sixth place.