Lewis Hamilton reprimanded and Mercedes fined for impeding Haas driver Nikita Mazepin

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Hamilton reprimanded and Mercedes fined for impeding Haas driver Nikita Mazepin

Russian was forced to take evasive action

Ian Parkes

Saturday 4 December 2021 18:19 Updated: 19:29

Lewis Hamilton has been reprimanded and Mercedes fined €25,000 for impeding Haas driver Nikita Mazepin during final practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was initially summoned to see the stewards for an alleged breach of double-waved yellow flags, only to be cleared due to a slight malfunction with a lightbox.

With regard to the impeding of Mazepin, the stewards have determined Mercedes was at fault for not giving the seven-time F1 champion adequate warning that Mazepin was approaching.

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On a cool-down lap, Hamilton reached the first of the twisty parts of the 27-turn, 6.1km circuit self-proclaimed as the 'fastest street track in F1'.

With Hamilton trundling through turn eight, Mazepin was forced to cut the corner, scything his way through the narrow gap available, with the Briton to his left and a wall to his right.

Asked by Haas as to his thoughts on the incident at the time, FIA race director Michael Masi said: "Not great at all. I will deal with it directly with the team.

"I've also had a chat to them here because no flags of any form were shown through that sector."

A stewards' report read: "The driver was given a 10-second warning that car 9 [Mazepin] was approaching when he was at turn two.

"Due to a failure in communication by the team he was not given another warning until car nine was alongside him.

"The stewards accept that this circuit presents challenges for drivers in relation to using their mirrors as the method of determining the approach of overtaking cars.

"Although it is the driver’s ultimate responsibility to avoid impeding, for this circuit the driver must depend upon the team to communicate efficiently. This did not happen in this case and accordingly, the penalty for the competitor is imposed.

"The stewards take this opportunity to emphasise that due to the nature of this circuit it is essential that teams communicate effectively and proactively with their drivers.

"This is not to be taken as a precedent for other circuits."