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The storm is still brewing after Lewis Hamilton paid for penalty and missed out on recording his 91st victory to match Michael Schumacher’s Formula One tally, writes Mai Al-Khatib-Camille.
His Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas took the top spot at Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in second. Hamilton had to settle for third.
The world champion was penalised by the stewards for performing two illegal practice starts ahead of the race at the Sochi Autodrom.
He had radioed in with the Mercedes pit wall to see if he could perform a practice start in the pit-lane exit and was given the green light by race engineer Pete Bonnington.
However, the decision did not fare well for the Brit and his team with the tactic not permitted under the rules.
Hamilton was immediately placed under investigation, and despite holding off Bottas at the getaway and again at the restart - after the safety car was deployed following two separate crashes involving McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll on the opening lap - he was told he would have to surrender his lead.
The stewards deemed that Hamilton was in breach of the rule by ‘performing his practice start near the end, but directly in the pit exit’. He was given two five-second penalties for his pre-race mistake.
A furious Hamilton told TV commentators: “They’re trying to stop me, aren’t they? But it’s OK. I just need to keep my head down and stay focused and we’ll see what happens.
“I’m pretty sure no-one’s got two five-second penalties for something so ridiculous before. I didn’t put anyone in danger. I’ve done this at a million tracks over the years and never been questioned on it. So it is what it is.”
The penalty knocked Hamilton out of contention which allowed Bottas to build a sizeable lead over Verstappen and cruise to his first win since the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.
Hamilton added: “It wasn’t a great day for me. It was just one of those days, but I’m grateful that I still managed to get a podium, bag some points and didn’t lose as much as I could have done.
“Congratulations to Valtteri on the win. I’ll take the points and move forward.”
Bottas crossed the line 7.7 seconds clear of Verstappen and reduced the championship lead for Hamilton to 44 points after 10 of 17 rounds.
Team boss Toto Wolff might have been happy with the Bottas’s victory but was frustrated with Hamilton’s penalties. He said: “We’ve held onto our 100 per cent winning record in Sochi and a one-three finish is a great result for the team, so we’re very satisfied.
“On Valtteri’s side, the win was long overdue and he drove a brilliant race.
“On Lewis’s side, it was a frustrating race. There is some room for interpretation with the practice start rules, so clearly, we need to analyse why we made the mistake and take the penalties on the chin.
“Like always, we win and lose together, never pointing the finger but instead trying to investigate what we can do better and how to improve.
“Clearly, we’ve had two incidents, here and in Monza, where we have made mistakes, and learning from these will only make us stronger in the long run. Nevertheless, we increased our Championship advantage with a strong result and now look ahead to the Nürburgring.”
Hamilton was dealt two additional points on his licence, taking his 12-month tally to 10. However, the points were later rescinded after Mercedes said the driver was acting on their instructions. The stewards found the audio between team and driver and confirmed this was the case.
If he had received two further penalty points at any stage during the next races in Nurburgring, Imola, Portimao and Istanbul, he would have been hit with a one-race ban.
