Lewis Hamilton has avoided a penalty at the F1 British Grand Prix, meaning that the Briton keeps his P3 result at his home race.
The driver was put under investigation for an alleged yellow flag infringement but has been allowed to keep his result following a post-race investigation by the stewards.
Hamilton secured a record-extending 16th podium at the British GP after finishing third behind George Russell and winner Charles Leclerc on Sunday.
But his celebrations were cautious as he was noted by the race director for an alleged yellow flag infringement and was subsequently put under investigation.
But after a post-race investigation during which they reviewed onboard footage and talked to the driver, the stewards came to the conclusion that Lewis Hamilton did not deserve a penalty but handed him a reprimand instead.
The Stewards’ report explained that the relevant section of the track was not under yellow flag conditions as Hamilton entered it, and it only became yellow as the driver was about to exit it.
They also noted that there wasn’t a light panel in Hamilton’s field of vision indicating yellow flags and that the light on his dash also indicated this for a very short period of time, meaning the 41-year-old had extremely limited time to react to the situation.
The stewards also took onboard Hamilton’s explanation that he was engaged in wheel-to-wheel combat with Max Verstappen just prior to the section and was looking in his rear-view mirrors.
This meant that the driver avoided a time penalty but still received a reprimand as he did not showcase a “discernible reduction of speed” and was therefore not fully in compliance with the regulations.
Lewis Hamilton describes end of the British GP as a “blur” as he misses out on P2
Lewis Hamilton described the final phase of the British GP as a “blur”, saying that he did not even remember exactly when he stopped under the safety car.
The 7x world champion added that Ferrari simply did what everyone thought was right in the moment, but lost out on P2.
Speaking about his race towards the final phase, Hamilton said [via Sky Sports]:
“It’s all a bit of a blur, to be honest.
I don’t really remember when, yeah, I was in P2 and then we stopped.”
On the race ending under the safety car, the Ferrari driver added:
“I mean, we could have predicted that.
But yeah, we did what we thought was right.”
Lewis Hamilton had found himself in P2 in the final stages of the race as Kimi Antonelli had to make an unscheduled pit stop due to an issue with his Mercedes.
But as the safety car came out on Lap 48, Ferrari made the call to pit both its drivers, with Charles Leclerc retaining his lead but Hamilton missing out to George Russell, who jumped into P2 after not pitting.
The race then also ended under the safety car, meaning Hamilton did not get a chance to overtake Russell on track with his fresher tires.
