19/11/2022
NEWS STORY
Yas Marina stewards deem that Lewis Hamilton took every reasonable action to comply with the regulations after session was red flagged and therefore a penallty is not warranted.
Following the incident during this morning's practice session, the stewards heard from Lewis Hamilton and a Mercedes representative whilst also reviewing positioning/marshalling system data, telemetry, team radio and in-car video.
The deemed that there is no dispute that Hamilton passed Kevin Magnussen directly after the track was placed in a red flag condition. Hamilton stated that he was on a fast lap, he saw the red light, immediately completely lifted the throttle and applied the brakes, whilst checking his mirrors for cars following in close proximity. He stated that he had, in doing so, gone past the Haas.
The Stewards took note of the precedent in relation to the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix (Max Verstappen), where no action was taken against the driver under similar but not
identical circumstances.
The telemetry evidence was sourced directly from the live data available to the FIA not from any evidence provided by the team.
The telemetry data clearly showed the following;
1. That immediately when the red light was displayed, the driver lifted throttle 100%
2. That immediately when the red light was displayed, the driver applied firm braking pressure.
3. The speed of Car 44 at this point was 288 km/h. (Car 20 had a speed of 126 km/h at this point – a delta of 162 km/h).
It was the stewards conclusion that Hamilton took every reasonable action to comply with the regulations in that he immediately reduced speed in a safe manner at the
earliest opportunity upon the first indication of the red light.
Notwithstanding, technically this is still a breach of Art 2.5.4.1 b of Cpt IV of Appendix H of the International Sporting Code, however he could not avoid overtaking Magnussen in this case and therefore the stewards determined to apply no penalty.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Yas Marina here.