handed out at Dutch Grand Prix
Sergio Perez fumed and demanded a penalty for Lewis Hamilton during qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix as the Red Bull racer felt he was impeded by his Mercedes rival
Lewis Hamilton has been penalised by the Formula 1 stewards after Sergio Perez accused him of impeding.
The incident happened during Q1 on Saturday when Perez was on a flying lap. He came across the slow-moving Mercedes of Hamilton who tried to get out of the way but ended up forcing the Mexican to slow down.
Perez was furious and demanded over the radio that the Briton be penalised for his actions. Hamilton played it down in his own message over the airwaves, but admitted after the session that it wasn’t his finest moment.
After qualifying just 12th quickest, the seven-time F1 champion cut a glum figure as he reflected on a dismal day. He said: “”It was a pretty shocking session. But these things happen – it’s done now. It definitely doesn’t feel good.
“It all went badly from the moment that the situation with Perez happened. I did my best to get out of the way, I was as far to the left as possible, but the timing was bad. It was probably a domino effect from that moment, it just went from bad to worse.”
Race control noted the incident at the time and, after qualifying was over, it was confirmed that the stewards would be investigating the incident. Both Hamilton and Perez were called to the circuit offices to give their respective sides of the story.
And, after considering all the evidence, they decided to punish Hamilton. They said he had “unnecessarily impeded” the Mexican and handed the seven-time F1 champion a three-place grid drop for the Zandvoort race, meaning he will start 15th on the grid.
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