Lewis Hamilton has been given a reprimand following today's Qatar Grand Prix.

In terms of the crash with teammate George Russell, for which the seven-time world champion has taken full responsibility, the stewards opted to take no further action.

However, for crossing the track after the incident he was given a reprimand and fined €50,000.

After crashing, Hamilton abandoned his car in the gravel and ran back to the pits, crossing the track that was live at the time, reaching the inside edge of the track just seconds Russell arrived at high speed after exiting the pits. He then continued to walk alongside the track until finally exiting the track.

During the hearing Hamilton was very apologetic and realized that the situation could have been very dangerous for him as well as the drivers approaching.

The stewards reinforced the fact that crossing a live track can cause extremely dangerous situations and that drivers have to be very cautious about it.

In addition to imposing a significant €50,000 fine (which is suspended in parts), the stewards also reprimanded the driver bearing in mind that receiving a certain number of reprimands during a season will draw a significant driving penalty in accordance with Article 18.2 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

In terms of the crash, Hamilton, Verstappen and Russell entered Turn 1 three-wide with the seven-time world champion trying to make a move on his teammate around the outside.

When turning in, the rear-right wheel of his car made contact with the front left edge of Russell's, causing Hamilton to spin off track. Russell also spun but was able to continue.

Whilst the argument can be made that Hamilton was predominantly at fault, the stewards, taking into account that the incident happened on Lap 1 and several cars were involved, determined that the incident is considered as a typical "Lap 1, Turn 1" incident and therefore no driver is wholly at fault.

Consequently no further action was taken.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Chester, 11/10/2023 16:00

"@KKirmki. I see your point. My view is that unsafe release HAS to be a rule because pit stop happen at every race for every team and almost always at least twice a race.

Penalizing Alonso (and other drivers) for coming back onto the track quickly, to me, would ruin racing. I am not advocating rubbin-is-racing Nascar style racing or bang another car as you pass racing- neither of which happened with Alonso."

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2. Posted by Spindoctor, 10/10/2023 10:09

"I'm really surprised that Mercedes hadn't talked this through prior to the race. Hamilton on soft tyres, ,which were likely to degrade really fast - as per the Sprint - behind Russel on the Mediums. What were they thinking? Hamilton was clearly confused by this "strategy" as his comments on the radio suggested.

Surely that gambit should have been played the other way around, giving Russel the opportunity to blast past Verstappen into the lead, with Hamilton harrying him & getting DRS within a few laps....Better still, both Mercs would have started on Mediums & both would have had a good chance of being on the podium. Beating Verstappen on the track is almost impossible at present.....

As it turned-out the (almost) inevitable happened: Hamilton tried to pass both but then they all arrived at the corner with Verstappen on the inside & both Mercs fighting for the remaining bit of track. Disaster was, if not inevitable, then highly probable. That's not to excuse Hamilton who is old enough, and should be wise enough to have hung back & allowed Russel & Verstappen to dice it out & pounce when things had quietened down a bit. His crossing the live track was unbelievably dangerous & I sincerely hope he is chastened by reflecting on that."

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3. Posted by Hobgoblin, 10/10/2023 9:33

"Whilst I certainly agree that Hamilton was at fault here - he was ahead in the corner, but then turned in on Russell and expected him to disappear.
What I don't understand is how this is different to other occasions when a driver turns in on another car and then complains that the other car didn't back out."

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4. Posted by Kkiirmki, 10/10/2023 5:55

"@Chester. A number of drivers may have gone off the track, but they didn't rejoin in a dangerous manner like Alonso did. We've seen lesser instances, such as an unsafe release in the pitlane, get punished. Just because you didn't cause an accident, doesn't mean you should get away with reckless driving.

I'm not sure how you interpreted my comment as some sort of excuse for Hamilton, or the implication that I'm some sort of Hamiton fanboy, which I'm certainly not. I’m just pointing out another example of the inconsistent decisions from the stewards, in an article...about a stewards descision.

"

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5. Posted by kenji, 09/10/2023 23:44

"@ Chester...I fully agree with your summary. Time for some big changes I think..."

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6. Posted by Chester, 09/10/2023 12:23

"@Kenji. My thoughts as LH walked across the track were "He's seen his best days".

@Kkiirmki. As I saw on the bumper of a pickup truck last week: "But you didn't die".

Alonso going off, which many drivers did, is not comparable to LH's brute driving, which is occurring more and more, unless you are grasping at GOAT straws."

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7. Posted by Kkiirmki, 09/10/2023 6:24

"Yet, Alonso excapes any form of punishment for nearly taking out Charles Leclerc when rejoing the track after he went off at turn 2?"

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8. Posted by kenji, 09/10/2023 2:48

"Are we seeing here a slow but inevitable disintegration ? Mercedes had a great opportunity to do well in this race but Hamilton blew it...unnecessarily IMO. Prior to the race in personal discussions I certainly contemplated this possibility and was not let down. On top of that, the mindless crossing of a live track by Hamilton, more or less defined that a meltdown was taking place. At least Russell was able to make something out of it all by securing a modicum of success for the team."

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Hamilton given a reprimand

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