Lewis Hamilton Slapped With Huge Fine For Breaking F1 Safety Protocols

Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has been slapped with a heavy fine by the FIA due to his actions at last weekend's Qatar Grand Prix at the Lusail Circuit. The offence came in the aftermath of his turn 1 collision with Mercedes teammate George Russell, which resulted in his retirement from the race.

According to a statement by F1 management, Hamilton has been ordered to pay a fine of €50,000 (£43,000) for dangerously crossing a live track after getting out of his stricken Mercedes. Half of the said amount is due to be paid to the FIA immediately, while the other half worth €25,000 (£21,500) will be suspended as long as he does not commit a second offence until the end of the season.

Nevertheless, the €25,000 fine is still a hefty amount to be paid thanks to his actions which were deemed to have been extremely dangerous both for himself and his fellow drivers. Hamilton also received a reprimand for crossing the track while he was trying to find his way back to the Mercedes garage after beaching his car in the gravel trap with one of its tyres busted and detached.

What happened between the two Mercedes cars?

Newly-crowned 2023 World Champion Max Verstappen started from pole position with Russell and Hamilton behind him. Both Mercedes drivers were quick off the line, and Russell managed to get himself alongside Verstappen on the approach to turn 1. Hamilton was also quick, and he tried to take the corner from the outside.

However, Hamilton turned in too early and squeezed into his teammate, who could not avoid contact because he had the Red Bull on the other side. As a result, Hamilton's right rear tyre collided with Russell's front left, which resulted in a tyre blowout for Hamilton and a damaged front wing for Russell.

Hamilton's tyre blew off and sent his car spinning into the gravel, but his teammate was lucky enough to be able to limp his way back into the pits for a fresh nose cone.

Why was Hamilton fined?

As Hamilton got out of his beached car, he commented that he had been taken out by his own teammate before walking over the live track on his way back to the pit garage. At this point, the safety car had not yet been deployed and cars were passing through the track at fairly high speeds despite the yellow flags.

Race stewards studied the footage of the incident and conducted an investigation after it was deemed that Hamilton had violated safety protocols. Following a hearing wherein representatives from the Mercedes team and Hamilton himself gave their statements, the driver was given a "non-driving reprimand" as well as the fine.

Formula 1 shared a statement from the stewarding panel, which read: "After crashing out of the race in Lap 1, the driver of Car 44 [Hamilton] 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."

According to the same statement, Hamilton did not try to justify his actions and was completely apologetic. He also recognised the fact that his actions were dangerous to himself and also to his fellow drivers who could have run him over. Seeing him walking along the track could also provide enough distraction to any of the other drivers which could cause them to lose concentration while driving at high speeds.

Meanwhile, the crash itself was investigated by the stewards, but it was determined that no further action would be taken against either of the Mercedes drivers.

Disappointing day for Mercedes

Overall, it was a disappointing day for the Mercedes team, who started their cars at P2 and P3. Hamilton failed to complete a single lap while Russell was forced to go on a recovery drive after having to pit after the collision. However, he was still able to put keep his head down to finish in P4 behind Verstappen and the two McLarens.

Russell was initially shaken by the crash with his teammate, and went on the radio to reason out that he had nowhere to go when Hamilton squeezed into him. Team principal Toto Wolff, who was monitoring the race remotely while recovering from a knee surgery, had to tell him to keep his head down and focus on the race.

Hamilton was initially enraged and accused Russell of taking him out, but he later apologised to his teammate and the Mercedes team after seeing the replays. He admitted that the mishap was entirely his fault and shared that he had cleared the air with his teammate: "I'm happy to take responsibility as the older guy. I don't think George had anywhere to go at that point. I was trying to get ahead of both of them and just an unfortunate situation. I had the worst tyre of everyone around me, so I needed to try and get ahead. Big risk, big penalty."