Hamilton’s pit lane dice with Vettel could cost him second (Update: no penalty)
Vettel and Hamilton banged wheels in the Shanghai pitlane
Update: The stewards have given Hamilton and Vettel reprimands and no penalties have been applied.
The results of the Chinese Grand Prix may change as the stewards consider whether to take action against McLaren for an incident in the pits.
Lewis Hamilton was released alongside Sebastian Vettel during their pit stop – a move which could earn him a time penalty.
The pair even went into the pits side-by-side as Vettel moved alongside Hamilton on the way to the pit lane.
Replays suggest the cars were released at approximately the same time but Hamilton got away from his pit box more slowly. In the press conference after the race he said he had wheel spin on the damp surface in the pits.
What happened next was also potentially controversial. With Hamilton now alongside Vettel the Red Bull driver edged right, squeezing the McLaren dangerously close to the air lines of other teams’ pit boxes. Hamilton took a hand off the wheel and gestured at Vettel, saying afterwards:
He was pushing me a little bit to the right. We touched wheels.
Lewis Hamilton
If McLaren get a penalty for the pit lane incident it would likely take the form of a 25-second penalty which would drop him to fifth behind Robert Kubica. Or he may get a grid penalty for the next race at Catalunya.
Do you think McLaren should get a penalty? Should Vettel’s move be investigated as well? Have your say in the comments.
2010 Chinese Grand Prix
- Sunday in Shanghai – a fans’ view of the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix
- 2010 Chinese Grand Prix – the complete F1 Fanatic review
- Ferrari deny Alonso-Massa rift
- Points for Petrov and first McLaren 1-2 since 2007 (Chinese GP stats and facts)
- Safety car spares Hamilton and Alonso’s blushes (Chinese Grand Prix analysis)
- Chinese Grand Prix fastest laps
- Chinese Grand Prix in pictures
- Webber loses out in safety car incident
- Button leads McLaren to one-two in wet race
- Hamilton’s pit lane dice with Vettel could cost him second (Update: no penalty)
Pedro said on 27th April 2010, 11:07
Looks like the traffic could be a real problem in Monaco.
BTW: Why McLaren wasn’t punished for unsafe release of Hamilton during Chinese GP:
http://f1news.cz/novinky/34599-mel-byt-mclaren-potrestan-za-nebezpecne-vypusteni-hamiltona/
Lollipops were up at almost same moment(well, there was just 1/10 sec difference).
Prisoner Monkeys said on 27th April 2010, 11:23
You answered your own question:
How could you justify punishing McLaren or Red Bull for an unsafe release when the only way to tell the differences between the timing of their releases was invisible to the naked eye?
Pedro said on 27th April 2010, 11:45
I did not want say that McLaren should have been punished. It wasn’t a question – I was just explaing, why they were not! ;)
That was meant as McLaren’s defence as I was reading on many forums posts where people wonder how it was possible not to penalize Hamilton.
Pedro said on 27th April 2010, 11:44
I did not want say that McLaren should have been punished. It wasn’t a question – I was just explaing, why they were not! ;)
That was meant as McLaren’s defence as I was reading on many forums posts where people wonder how it was possible not to penalize Hamilton.
Hello said on 13th June 2010, 18:23
this has happened before many times in formula 1 and the only penalty given is unsafe release from the team. in this case they both came out at almost the same time. So no penalty for either. but vettel shouldnt be moving right.