Following all the celebrations after a chaotic 2018 Formula 1 German Grand Prix, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was put under investigation for an incident related to entering the pits, but has been cleared of any troubles.
The investigation only started about one and a half hours after the race on the incident when safety car was deployed on Lap 52 to clear Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel’s car. Mercedes were in a spot of bother to decide whether to bring both the cars for a tyre change or not.
It eventually got Valtteri Bottas in as Hamilton stayed out. It was messy as the crew was not ready with the right tyres for the Finn. Fortunately, he didn’t lose places as Ferrari decided to pit Kimi Raikonen as well with Hamilton then taking over the lead.
The British driver though almost came into the pits, only to bail out at the last moment. He took the pitlane route but when he was asked to stay out, he cut across over the grass to re-join the track. It wasn’t put under investigation straightaway.
However, the driver and the team were summoned for a hearing hours after the race got over. Following discussions, it was decided by the stewards that Hamilton didn’t do wrong wholly and handed him a reprimand – thus allowing him to keep the win.
This is Hamilton’s first reprimand of the season. Crucially, the British driver evades any time penalty which would have dropped him to at least second, giving Bottas the win. As the result stays, it means Hamilton still has a 17 points advantage over Vettel.
The stewards statement stated: “The Stewards reviewed video and audio evidence, heard from the driver of car 44 (Lewis Hamilton) and heard from the team representative. It was clear that there was an infringement of the above mentioned rule – the driver clearly crossed the line separating the pit entry from the track.
“In deciding on the penalty for the infringement, we took into account the following mitigating factors:
- The driver and the team candidly admitted the mistake and the fact that there was confusion between the team as to whether to stay out or to enter the pits and that led to the infringement.
- The fact that the infringement took place during a Safety Car period.
- At no time was there any danger to any other competitor and the change in direction was executed in a safe way.
“Taking all of the above into account, including considering previous infringements of the above rule, we are of the opinion that a reprimand would be the appropriate penalty for the said infringement on this occasion.”