Lewis Hamilton was handed out a punishment by the FIA that has been widely condemned.
Hamilton was forced to retire from a race for the first time this season when he collided with Russell at the first turn and was sent spinning off onto the gravel. After the race, the 38-year-old accepted full responsibility for the coming together and apologised to Russell.
The FIA announced it would review the incident where Hamilton walked across the track “in view of his role model status,” forcing the seven-time world champion to apologize once more. After the race, Hamilton apologized to the race officials for endangering his safety, but it was insufficient to avoid a hefty £43,000 fine.
Given the amount of time that had passed since the race, it was unusual for the FIA to decide to launch an investigation into Hamilton only one week after it had occurred. The world’s governing body for motorsports, however, denied that the Mercedes star had been singled out.
PlanetF1.com report that the FIA responded by clarifiying their reference to him being a ‘role model’ means that ‘any F1 driver has to set an example for younger drivers’, not just Hamilton.
However, that explanation is unlikely to placate any doubts or fears raised about the FIA targeting Hamilton for special treatment, especially when other drivers have committed the same offence and escaped punishment.
Karun Chandhok, a former Formula One driver who is currently a pundit for Sky Sports F1, noted that it was “odd” that both newly crowned champion Max Verstappen and Williams rookie Logan Sargeant had committed the same crime but were spared punishment.
Lewis isn’t the first person to do this, but Chandhok tweeted on X (formerly Twitter): “Not saying this should be condoned. Wasn’t [Logan] Sargeant the one to cross the track at the prior competition in Japan?
“Bit odd to talk about
precedent when other people have done it before. Max [Verstappen] at Monza 2021 is another example I think…”
Verstappen had walked on the track following his infamous crash with Hamilton at the Italian Grand Prix two years ago and the Dutchman was much closer to cars driving past. Yet he escaped a fine or reprimand from the FIA for circumventing the safety regulations.
How on earth can Hamilton be fined for this? On the Racing365 podcast, he declared, “We’ve gone completely crazy. “Are you sure I’m not a three-year-old child? I just need to cross the street, right? I’m a grown man. Too many rules exist. Rules are constantly being thrown at us. It is awful.
“The case of the track limits is also strange. Just agreeing. There might have been 200 FIA representatives in Qatar. People everywhere wearing white shirts with the FIA logo made no sense at all.