Hamilton recovers his super license points, fine for Mercedes!
While he had initially received 2 penalty points on his super license, the FIA backtracked by only imposing a fine on Mercedes.
The facts:
Lewis Hamilton received a double five-second penalty during the Russian Grand Prix this Sunday. The Mercedes driver performed a practice start in an inappropriate area. He stopped at the end of the pit exit straight. Two prohibited and dangerous maneuvers. The FIA penalized him with a point lost on his license for each of the two penalties.
However, Mercedes appealed this decision after the race by providing radio recordings to the FIA. The stewards received information from the team that the driver of car no. 44 had been instructed by the team to perform his start procedure test in an inappropriate location. It was deemed that the fault lay with Mercedes and not with Hamilton, who thus regains his two points.
Following this incident, the Briton has lost 8 points on his license (instead of 10 at the time of the incident). He remains close to a Grand Prix suspension as indicated by the FIA regulations: « when a driver reaches 12 penalty points within a 12-month period, he will be suspended from the next race ».
In November, Hamilton will recover two additional points on his license. Consequently, driver number #44 will need to complete the next four races without being penalized to avoid a suspension. Those being the Eifel Grand Prix (Nurburgring on October 11), followed by Portugal (October 25), Emilia-Romagna (November 1), and Turkey (November 15).
What infractions were committed by Hamilton?
As a reminder, the oldest penalty dates back to the Brazilian Grand Prix last November. Hamilton received 2 penalty points for the collision with Alexander Albon.
This season, Hamilton was penalized 4 points during the inaugural round in Austria. He failed to slow down under yellow flags during qualifying, earning a three-place grid penalty and two penalty points. During the race, Hamilton collided with Albon again, which earned him an additional five seconds and two more penalty points.
Finally, during the Italian Grand Prix, the Briton received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty and 2 points on his license for entering the pits while they were closed. Magnussen’s Haas was immobilized a few hundred meters from the pit entrance, and the track marshals were maneuvering to bring the Danish driver’s car back to the pit.
