Lewis Hamilton clarifies the FIA call of revisiting F1 Qatar GP penalty, as he reckons they need to do a better job in communication.
A week after the penalty handed to Mercedes’ Hamilton for crossing a live track in F1 Qatar GP, the FIA noted about revisiting the penalty. The Brit was reprimanded and fined €50,000 where €25,000 was suspended on the grounds that there is no repeat.
The FIA felt the need to revisit considering the stature of Hamilton and wanted to set an example that it doesn’t happen with him or any driver in F1 and or other championships. But they weren’t reviewing to hand harsher penalty to the Brit per se.
They are to re-look at the penalty and make it harsher for the next person if he/she does so. Hamilton was surprised by the FIA statement since he felt the communication wasn’t done properly from their end to media for the confusion to rise up.
The review is mostly happening due to an incident in Karting World Championship at Franciacorta. It happened on the same day as Qatar GP where Joe Turney suffered an injury on his right foot after he was hit by rival while trying to re-join post an incident.
“I mean, they have spoken to me and their actual point is, and I think it’s important, it was just really, when I sat in the meeting, or in the stewards’ office, obviously I put my hands up,” said Hamilton. “In the heat of the moment, it was the wrong decision. And what’s important is to send the right message, particularly for the younger drivers, throughout the ages, that that’s not the thing to do.
“And I apologised at the time. And I think they’re just looking at how to make sure that doesn’t happen moving forwards. I don’t think I was singled out. I think, ultimately, it was just poor communication. I don’t think what they had said is exactly what they meant. I think what they mean is that they’re just going to look into how they can tackle those sorts of things moving forwards to make sure that it doesn’t happen.
“And I mean, if you look at it, I think there was a karting incident recently where a kid was hit. So we really need to make sure that we’re continuously focusing on safety. And I think that’s really at the core, at the root of it, but I just think they probably need to speak to their PR agent to do a better job,” summed up Hamilton.
Here’s Mercedes with its final 2023 update
Here’s FIA on revisiting Qatar GP penalty of Lewis Hamilton
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