Lewis Hamilton may face more FIA punishment for crossing a live track in Qatar
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Hamilton’s race ended on the first lap in Losail after contact with Mercedes teammate George Russell, but he breached regulations by jumping out of his car and walking back to the pits by crossing the circuit.Hamilton was summoned to the stewards and hit with a €50,000 fine, of which half was suspended for the rest of 2023 pending he does not commit the same breach again.But a week later the FIA are reinvestigating the incident to consider whether it was more serious than they initially realised.”The FIA is revisiting the incident in which Lewis Hamilton crossed a live track during the Qatar Grand Prix,” a statement from the governing body read.“The FIA notes that Lewis was apologetic during the subsequent stewards hearing in to the incident and acknowledged that the crossing was a serious safety breach.“However, in view of his role model status, the FIA is concerned about the impression his actions may have created on younger drivers.”
Hamilton will be called to discuss the incident with the FIA next weekend in Austin, Sky report.The TV broadcaster also reports that “the FIA do not want to single out Hamilton, but are concerned at the precedent potentially set”.Related Sky TV experts point finger at Mercedes error leading to Hamilton-Russell The forgotten story of Toto Wolff, the Red Bull driverThe initial statement in the aftermath of the Qatar Grand Prix read: “After ing out of the race in Lap 1, the driver of Car 44 abandoned his car in the gravel and ran back to the pits.”He thereby crossed the track that was live at this time and reached the inside edge of the track just seconds before Car 63 [Russell] arrived at high speed after exiting the pits.”He then continued to walk alongside the track until finally exiting the track.”During the hearing the driver of Car 44 was very apologetic and realised that the situation could have been very dangerous for him as well as the drivers approaching.”The Stewards reinforced the fact that crossing a live track can cause extremely dangerous situations and the drivers have to be very cautious about it.”In addition to imposing a significant fine (which is suspended in parts), the Stewards also reprimand the driver bearing in mind that receiving a certain number of reprimands during a season will draw a significant driving penalty in accordance with Article 18.2 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.”
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