Hamilton Escapes with Reprimand after Two Separate Investigations in Saudi Arabia

Lewis Hamilton has escaped with just a reprimand following two investigations after final practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver had been under investigation for a possible double yellow flag offence, and for impeding Nikita Mazepin during Saturday’s free practice session at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Stewards found that Hamilton did not contravene the yellow flag rules as no yellow flag was shown to him, nor was any yellow flag warning flashed onto his dashboard.

“The Race Director reported to the Stewards that the double yellow flag warning on the FIA Marshalling System was activated at Light Panel Number 6 accidentally, for less than 1 second,” said the FIA bulletin.

“As the on-board video of Car 44 (to be released by the Commercial Rights Holder following this Decision) clearly shows, there was no yellow flag displayed, no yellow lights were displayed to that driver and the yellow warning light was not visible on the driver’s steering wheel.

“Unlike other incidents this year, there was no yellow flag or yellow light displayed to the driver (the driver already being well into the marshalling sector when the system was briefly activated) hence no breach of the regulations has occurred.”

When it came to the impeding of Mazepin, it was deemed that the team were at fault for the incident, although Hamilton was handed a reprimand, his second of the season.

The team were handed a €25,000 fine for not giving Hamilton the information that Mazepin was approaching at speed behind him at turn eight, with the Uralkali Haas F1 Team driver doing well to avoid what could have been a huge accident.