Hamilton given formal warning as difficult Ferrari start continues
The seven-time champion was alleged to have impeded his successor at Mercedes, Italian teenage rookie Kimi Antonelli, at turn four of the fast and technical Red Bull Ring circuit in the Styrian Alps.
Hamilton apologised immediately and explained that he had not seen Antonelli approaching behind him as he descended over the crest of a hill on a slow lap and drifted into the racing line.
Hamilton raised his hand to signal his apology to Antonelli as he passed him.
After speaking to Hamilton, the stewards decided to give the Briton a formal warning -- the usual sanction for such a misdemeanour in practice.
It is the third time this season that Hamilton has been warned.
"The driver of car 44 (Hamilton), although constantly checking his mirrors after being informed by the team about car 12 (Antonelli) closing in, slowly moved on to the racing line on the approach to turn four and thereby unnecessarily impeded car 12 which had to take evasive action," said the stewards in a statement.
Hamilton was given a three-place grid drop at the Monaco Grand Prix where he impeded four-time champion Max Verstappen in qualifying when his race engineer Riccardo Adami wrongly informed him that the Dutchman was not on a flying lap.
Hamilton struggled with gearbox problems on Friday as he evaluated a new floor design on his Ferrari car.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
11 hours ago
- France 24
Hamilton given formal warning as difficult Ferrari start continues
The seven-time champion was alleged to have impeded his successor at Mercedes, Italian teenage rookie Kimi Antonelli, at turn four of the fast and technical Red Bull Ring circuit in the Styrian Alps. Hamilton apologised immediately and explained that he had not seen Antonelli approaching behind him as he descended over the crest of a hill on a slow lap and drifted into the racing line. Hamilton raised his hand to signal his apology to Antonelli as he passed him. After speaking to Hamilton, the stewards decided to give the Briton a formal warning -- the usual sanction for such a misdemeanour in practice. It is the third time this season that Hamilton has been warned. "The driver of car 44 (Hamilton), although constantly checking his mirrors after being informed by the team about car 12 (Antonelli) closing in, slowly moved on to the racing line on the approach to turn four and thereby unnecessarily impeded car 12 which had to take evasive action," said the stewards in a statement. Hamilton was given a three-place grid drop at the Monaco Grand Prix where he impeded four-time champion Max Verstappen in qualifying when his race engineer Riccardo Adami wrongly informed him that the Dutchman was not on a flying lap. Hamilton struggled with gearbox problems on Friday as he evaluated a new floor design on his Ferrari car.
France 24
16 hours ago
- France 24
Swiatek sweeps past Paolini into first grass-court final in Germany
The former world number one swept past second seed Paolini 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour to reach her first final in a year since she lifted her fourth French Open trophy in Roland Garros. Swiatek, 24, will bid for her 23rd career title on Saturday against either US third seed Jessica Pegula or Czech Linda Noskova in the northern suburbs of Frankfurt. Fourth seed Swiatek lost her opening service game but then settled in to break back to love and dominated Paolini for her fifth win in as many meetings against the Italian. "I wasn't expecting to win this match, so I'm happy that I just did my job," Swiatek said. "I knew how I wanted to play and I just went for it. I'm happy I kept the momentum going until the end of the match, Jasmine, you can't let her get back in the game because she's a fighter." Pole Swiatek is playing her first tournament since the three-time defending champion lost to world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals of Roland Garros. She has never before reached a final on grass, and her best result at Wimbledon is a quarter-final finish in 2023. Paolini, 29, will now head to London, where she will begin her Wimbledon campaign against 402nd-ranked Latvian Anastasija Sevastova. Former US Open champion Swiatek will face Russian Polina Kudermetova, ranked 63, in Wimbledon.
France 24
16 hours ago
- France 24
Russell tops opening practice in Austria
The 27-year-old Briton clocked a best lap in one minute and 5.542 seconds to outpace his Dutch rival by 0.065 seconds ahead of McLaren's championship leader Oscar Piastri and his temporary team-mate, reserve driver Alex Dunne, who delivered an impressive debut. The Irishman settled into the session and ramped up his speed in the closing stages to finish only 0.09 seconds adrift of Piastri in the car usually driven by Lando Norris. Pierre Gasly was fifth for Alpine ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber, Williams' Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, who endured a troubled session. RB rookie Isack Hadjar was 10th ahead of fellow-rookie Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes. Russell was the winner of last year's race in the Styrian Alps and won the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago, giving him momentum for this weekend. Dunne is Ireland's first F1 driver since Ralph Firman in 2003. Dino Beganovic made his second appearance of the season as reserve stepping in for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, alongside Hamilton. He wound up 18th. Most teams introduced a range of upgrades, including a new floor for Ferrari, while Red Bull had a change of personnel in Verstappen's group, the vastly-experieced Simon Rennie stepping in for Gianpiero Lambiasse, who had taken a weekend off. By midway through the session, Russell had switched to softs and continued to set the pace as Ferrari were struggling again with both cars in the pits with problems. Hamilton who had complained of gearbox issues was only 18th and Beganovic 19th ahead of Dunne, who was familiarizing himself with the demands of F1. In a largely serene session, the first incident came with a spin for Fernando Alonso when he pushed on his first lap on softs at Turn 10. "That was the worst out-lap we can do," said the Aston Martin driver.
