F1: FIA slaps Hamilton with a Fine and Reprimand

Lewis Hamilton has been fined and reprimanded by the FIA for crossing the Lusail circuit on foot after his clash with Mercedes teammate George Russell.

A shot for Drive to Survive.
Lewis Hamilton taken out by his teammate. #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/J4Bhtr4Fjl

— Abdul-Rafay (@juicyfulltoss) October 8, 2023

Hamilton turned down on his Mercedes teammate Russell into Turn 1 at the start of the Qatar GP, broke his right-rear wheel and slid to a halt in the pea gavel.

While the race was under the safety car, Hamilton then crossed the live circuit from the outside of Turn 1 to the pitlane on the inside, just seconds before Russell emerged from the pits – a dangerous situation and not allowed.

The FIA handed him his first reprimand of 2023 as well as a €50,000 fine, half of which is suspended for the rest of the season.

In their verdict, they wrote: “After crashing 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 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 realized 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.”