Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team were fined nearly £13,000 – and the British driver was slapped with a warning – following a near “serious high-speed crash” in practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Williams driver Logan Sargeant was forced to take evasive action to avoid hitting the back of Hamilton’s slow-moving Mercedes.
Formula One’s stewards said Mercedes should have informed Hamilton that Sargeant was approaching him on a quick lap. The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is the fastest street track on the F1 calendar.
Carlos Sainz, who Hamilton will replace at Ferrari next year and who witnessed the incident, said over the radio: “What Hamilton did there is super dangerous.
“He was in the middle (of the track). He could have got out of the way. Sargeant nearly crashed because of him.”
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Hamilton, who finished eighth in practice, six places behind team-mate George Russell – and 0.677 seconds adrift of fastest driver Fernando Alonso – was summoned to see the stewards.
A report from the governing FIA read: “The stewards heard from the driver of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), the driver of Car 2 (Logan Sargeant), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, team radio and in-car video evidence and determine that Car 44 impeded Car 2 at Turn 11.
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Lewis Hamilton finished eighth in second practice on Thursday (Darko Bandic/AP)
“As a result, Car 2 had to take evasive action by going off the track to avoid a collision. Had that not been done, there would have been a serious, high-speed crash.
“Having listened to the team radio, it was clear to us that the team of Car 44 failed to warn their driver of the fact that Car 2 was arriving on a fast lap. That was a serious failure on the part of the team, particularly given the speeds on this circuit and the nature of Turn 11, which is at the end of a series of high speed corners where driver visibility is impaired.
“We therefore issue a warning to the driver and impose a fine of 15,000 euros (£12,818) to the team.”
