Lewis Hamilton has been warned for impeding Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto in Bahrain Grand Prix practice in Malaysia, escaping with a warning as his Ferrari Formula 1 team received a €10,000 fine.
Halfway through second free practice session on a sweltering Sepang circuit, Hamilton blocked Bortoleto on the entry to Turn 9 as he suffered damage to his right-hand side mirror, resulting in a scary closing speed of over 150km/h, forcing the Brazilian to veer out of the way.
Afterwards, the FIA’s race stewards handed the seven-time world champion a warning, with Ferrari docked €10,000 for the incident for not warning its driver.
“The Stewards accept that HAM’s right-hand mirror was damaged, as confirmed by photographic and video evidence, and that he had received no radio warning from the team,” the stewards wrote in their verdict. “Both team representatives stated that such warnings are not normally issued where the approaching car is not on a push lap. BOR also confirmed that he remained in control of the situation.
“Nevertheless, the Stewards considered that HAM unnecessarily impeded the significantly faster approaching car by moving onto the racing line at slow speed. The fact that BOR was not on a push lap does not alter that conclusion.
“The Stewards also considered whether the incident should be regarded as dangerous impeding. In particular, they considered the high closing speed as well as the fact that a driver, who is aware that one of his mirrors is damaged, should exercise additional care before moving onto the racing line. However, BOR remained in control and was able to avoid HAM.”
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images
They added: “The Stewards considered the damaged mirror and the fact that BOR was not on a push lap as mitigating circumstances. These were balanced against the significant speed differential, HAM’s movement onto the racing line and the resulting need for BOR to take evasive action.”
The stewards also highlighted the responsibility of the team to take extra care warning Hamilton of traffic in light of his mirror damage, which is why the team was handed the fine.
Hamilton ended Friday’s FP3 session in fifth, with team-mate Charles Leclerc setting the benchmark ahead of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and McLaren’s world champion Lando Norris.
“Nothing really matters on Friday in terms of the leaderboard, but being fastest is no bad thing, so I guess at least an OK day,” Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said.
“It will be a lot about track evolution as we try to anticipate how the track will be tomorrow, and it’s a challenge for everybody. It will be a lot about [tyre] degradation, because compared to the previous events this one is on the huge degradation side. Race pace will be mainly based on degradation.”
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