Stewards take no action against Hamilton

23/06/2012

No further action is to be taken against Lewis Hamilton after the stewards investigated an incident in today's qualifying session.

The McLaren driver, who joins Sebastian Vettel on the front row for tomorrow's race, was summoned by the stewards after it was felt the Englishman had blocked Nico Rosberg on his final run.

"I can't be happy with the outcome today," fumed the Mercedes driver after the session in which he qualified sixth. "We were quick throughout but when I was just about to start my final lap, Lewis was slowing down in the last corner. I had to start my quick lap behind him which made it impossible to improve my time. We know it's tricky in the last sector here and there is an agreement in place to stop things like this happening so it's frustrating."

It was alleged that Hamilton did not comply with the instructions of the Race Director, in that "cars should not be driven unnecessarily slowly between turns 21 and 25". However, the stewards, having heard from both drivers and the team representatives, examined the video, audio and GPS evidence and telemetry data, decide to take no further action.

Explaining their decision the stewards pointed out that the sector time for Hamilton was actually faster than a time set previously in that same sector by Rosberg, which is an indication that the McLaren driver was not driving unnecessarily slowly between turns 21 and 25. The also said that the smallest gap between the two was 18 metres and 1.1 seconds.

Elsewhere, Sauber was fined 5,000 euros when Sergio Perez Car 15 did not stay below the maximum time set by the FIA between the Safety Car Line after the Pit Exit and the Safety Car Line before the Pit Entry, at the end of Q2.

Earlier, Pastor Maldonado, who qualified third for tomorrow's race, was fined 1,400 euros for speeding in the pitlane during this morning's session, a breach of Article 30.12 of the Sporting Regulations.

Check out our qualifying gallery, here.