Mercedes must not give stewards "even a sniff" of penalties
Lewis Hamilton says he and Mercedes must “cover ourselves” to ensure the Formula 1 stewards do not have “even a sniff” to sanction them after his Russia penalties.
Hamilton was hit with two five-second time penalties during Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix for completing practice starts in the wrong place while on his reconnaissance laps to the grid ahead of the race.
It meant polesitter and early race leader Hamilton could only recover to finish the race third after dropping behind Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Hamilton called the penalty “ridiculous” and “bulls**t” in the immediate aftermath of the race, and was initially hit with two penalty points on his FIA super licence, which were later replaced with a fine.
Hamilton felt that both he and Mercedes had to go through the rulebook to avoid any further sanctions, having fallen foul of minor infringements at two of the last three races.
He also missed out on a possible victory at Monza following a pit entry penalty that meant he could only finish seventh.
“I guess we’ll go through the rule book and pick out areas where they can create rules, areas where penalties have never been given before,” Hamilton said.
“We’ll try and figure out all the ones that they have, and try to make sure that we cover ourselves in the ones that we are aware of.
“I don’t think anyone’s had the penalty for that before, so we’ll just work hard.
“We’ve gone through seasons before without penalties, so just have to make sure I give them no reason, not even a sniff, to be able to do something.”
Hamilton initially said after the race in Russia that he felt the stewards were “trying to stop me”, but took to Instagram earlier this week to explain his reaction.
“I may not always get it right in the face of adversity,” Hamilton wrote. “I may not always react the way you want me to when tensions are high, but I am only human after all and I am passionate about what I do.
“I’m learning and growing every day, and I’ll take my lessons and keep fighting on to the next one.
“Thank you to those who continue to support and are right there fighting with me. Still we rise!”
Victory for Bottas in Russia meant that Hamilton’s championship lead was cut to 44 points with seven rounds remaining in the 2020 season.
Share Or Save This Story
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
‘I’ll put a pillow under his butt’ – How Toto Wolff wants to solve Kimi Antonelli’s track limits problem
George Russell calls Red Bull "the team to beat" in F1, but Kimi Antonelli adds a key caveat
How the Bahrain GP in Malaysia exposed Red Bull’s hidden resurgence
Brennan Poole to leave Alpha Prime Racing; team owners 'disappointed' to see him go
Oscar Piastri on his Singapore puncture: “Ironically, it probably helped”
Winners and losers from NASCAR Cup at Charlotte after dramatic finish
Charles Leclerc admits he missed a chance against Max Verstappen – but not the obvious one
'Senior moment' or breakdown of trust? The implications of Hamilton's Singapore GP meltdown
What we learned from the 2026 F1 Singapore GP sprint and qualifying
How Honda plans a return to being an F1 powerhouse
Why Red Bull's 'crazy' power unit success matters so much for F1
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments