Mercedes fined after Hamilton-Sargeant practice incident at Saudi Arabian grand prix
The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team has been fined nearly $25,000 after driver Lewis Hamilton impeded Williams driver Logan Sargeant during Free Practice 2 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton on track in Jeddah. (Mercedes-AMG F1/LAT Images/Supplied)
Hamilton as seen from Logan Sargeant’s onboard camera. (F1TV)
Hamilton was given a warning over the incident, with the team receiving a €15,000 fine ($24,673 AUD) after the FIA stewards found that Hamilton had almost caused “a serious, high speed crash.”
Sargeant was approaching turn 11 at the Jeddah Corniche circuit at high speed when he came across Hamilton, taking evasive action by driving across the curb and off the track.
“Had that not been done, there would have been a serious, high speed crash,” wrote the stewards.
“…the team of Car 44 failed to warn their driver of the fact that Car 2 was arriving on a fast lap.”
“That was a serious failure on the part of the team, particularly given… turn 11 is at the end of a series of high speed corners where driver visibility is impaired.”
