Lewis Hamilton, who is under investigation for delaying Kimi Raikkonen during Q1, said he “wasn’t aware” the Alfa Romeo was closing on him when the pair met on-track.
However Hamilton’s radio messages from qualifying reveal Mercedes did advise him he would be caught by both Alfa Romeos after he left the pits in Q1.Hamilton received a second radio message advising him how close Raikkonen was, at which point he moved away from the racing line and slower. He then crossed the racing line at turn three before Raikkonen negotiated the corner.
The Alfa Romeo driver raised a middle finger at Hamilton as he backed off and aborted his lap.
Speaking after qualifying, Hamilton admitted his driving probably delayed Raikkonen. “Basically I saw one of the team’s cars came by,” he said. “And I was braking for the hairpin, turn three, and I saw the one coming.
“And I saw the other one coming so I got off the brakes and tried to go straight on to try and get out of the way because I didn’t want to meet him in the corner. I don’t think I met them in the corner but I think that probably put him off, I would have thought.
“So it wasn’t ideal and I wasn’t aware that car was coming so not the easiest.”
Raikkonen admitted he had been surprised by Hamilton chose to cross the racing line. “I don’t know why he didn’t slow down and let me past<" he told Sky. "He kind of slowed down and then speeded up and went over the racing line." [leaderboard2]
Lewis Hamilton’s radio messages from the Raikkonen incident
| To Hamilton: | Just look out for these cars starting laps. |
| To Hamilton: | Hamilton joins the track. Giovinazzi then Raikkonen. You’ve got Leclerc leaving the pits behind you. |
| To Hamilton: | Raikkonen is approaching quickly. Raikkonen behind. |
| To Hamilton: | So Leclerc car behind is on an out-lap. |
| To Hamilton: | Next car behind on a timed is Kvyat. |
| Hamilton: | I didn’t see him. |
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Kingshark (@kingshark)
29th June 2019, 15:45
If Vettel vs Sainz was a penalty, so was Lewis vs Kimi today.
The fact that Kimi/Sainz made it through to Q3 should not make a difference.
JustOpinion
29th June 2019, 16:06
As what MV said before, rules are rules. FIA need to be consistent.
Oh well, is FIA gonna clear LH simply because he is 5 times WDC currently running and in the top team?
MG1982 (@mg1982)
29th June 2019, 16:08
Oh, true that. Forgot about it.
erix
29th June 2019, 16:10
I wasnt aware if this was free practice session for lying?
MG1982 (@mg1982)
29th June 2019, 16:54
Pretty sure you have no idea what we’re talking about.
erix
29th June 2019, 16:59
Nope ..I just use the 1st comment, so more people would read it.
kpcart
29th June 2019, 17:06
Hamilton just got a 3 pla e pentaly, so there you are liar.
Cooldown
29th June 2019, 16:16
If it happened other way around, LH would cry asking steward to penalize KR for delaying his lap.
Gav
29th June 2019, 17:31
Despite being completely different?
budchekov (@budchekov)
29th June 2019, 15:47
Nice work Keith, why is this taking so darn long.. worse than VAR.
Gabriel (@rethla)
29th June 2019, 15:47
Very clumsy.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
29th June 2019, 15:47
Slam dunk, aware or not.
David BR (@david-br)
29th June 2019, 15:49
Please let it be a penalty, the moaning will be intolerable otherwise.
Chaitanya
29th June 2019, 16:14
Moaning without penalty would be intolerable, with penalty it will get worse.
David BR (@david-br)
29th June 2019, 16:19
Actually I hope there is a penalty. Hamilton can work a bit more for a victory, if Mercedes have the race pace. But the big plus is a Leclerc – Verstappen front row! One of very many the future holds, possibly.
budchekov (@budchekov)
29th June 2019, 15:54
At this point whatever it takes to shuffle the deck, Max starting up front wound be awesome…
Joao (@johnmilk)
29th June 2019, 15:57
Lewis you should know by now that you can’t lie
TheRules
29th June 2019, 16:09
Well he is a 5 times world champion he should know better and yes he is lying about he not aware of Kimi behind him. Shame on him.
Carsten Nielsen (@carstenb)
29th June 2019, 15:57
If Hamilton escapes this one, then there is no justice. 3 places, slam dunk!
Gulp
29th June 2019, 15:58
Just let them sort themselves out. F1 never used to have this silliness and there were no problems. They never needed to be told about other drivers, they just kept their wits about them.
Gabriel (@rethla)
29th June 2019, 15:59
And they where fighting at the side of the track
Alex
29th June 2019, 16:05
Even better
budchekov (@budchekov)
29th June 2019, 16:07
Which is what put NASCAR center stage, for some time.
Bit of aggro’s always good for ratings..
Gabriel (@rethla)
30th June 2019, 1:41
@budchekov Given the uproar when Vettel nudged Hamilton after he had brake tested him i dont think PC F1 fans can handle anything like that.
Gav
30th June 2019, 13:45
The brake test that wasn’t a brake test at all?
Ipsom
29th June 2019, 16:02
I’m sure it was just an honest slip up…
I just hope that the fact that Kimi made it to Q3 wont sway the steward’s decision
Robbie (@robbie)
29th June 2019, 16:05
I get that he thought he was getting out of the way, but it was clumsy and dangerous looking and it caused Kimi surprise and to abort his lap. Sounds like LH had enough warning too. Should be at least a reprimand I would think.
Martin
29th June 2019, 16:30
Don’t think it was any more dangerous than Ricciardo on Kimi last weekend but that didn’t merit a penalty apparently.
Matthew roberts
29th June 2019, 16:32
so what else was lewis supposed to do?
he slowed down and tried to get out of the way
but then he realised he’d meet kimi in the corner if he didn’t put his foot down and drive off the track.
it was a difficult position to be in.
budchekov (@budchekov)
29th June 2019, 16:08
The Beeb’s saying potentially three grid places ?
Neil (@neilosjames)
29th June 2019, 16:10
I’ll be happy if it’s a penalty, and happy if it’s no penalty.
Actually, no. I hope it’s a 20-place grid penalty for the next five races, because the ridiculous ‘FIA favours Mercedes’ whinging might finally start to die down if that happened.
Martin
29th June 2019, 16:15
It wont
anon
29th June 2019, 16:20
@neilosjames, it begs the question of how many are judging the incident on its own merits, and how many are really just looking for a penalty for other reasons – either because they are still embittered about previous penalties for other drivers and are therefore seeking penalties against rival drivers out of a sense of spite, or because they want to “spice up the show”, even if comes from the sort of arbitrariness that they would normally say they don’t want, but are perhaps more relaxed about when it involves a rival driver getting penalised.
David BR (@david-br)
29th June 2019, 16:26
@anon Plus Hamilton had the temerity to do it to The Kimi, everyone’s favourite middle finger, so to speak.
anon
29th June 2019, 16:45
@david-br, yes, I agree that probably is another factor – if it was a less popular driver, you suspect that few would be complaining about it.
In fact, we are getting something of a direct comparison with the Kvyat-Russell incident in qualifying, where the latter has now been penalised for holding up the former – it is notable that nobody here seems to care less about Kvyat being held up in qualifying, and indeed virtually nobody seems to have even acknowledged that incident at all.
Robbie (@robbie)
29th June 2019, 22:24
Wasn’t Kvyat simply a victim of running into traffic?
Taking the incidents on their own, I thought SV/LH in Canada wasn’t penalty worthy, and today I thought LH deserved at least a reprimand, and certainly no more than what he got. It was minor but not minor enough to be left alone, as Kimi did have to abort his lap.
Jere (@jerejj)
29th June 2019, 16:15
He should get a penalty for that for the sake of consistency even if Kimi still managed to reach Q2 (and eventually Q3) since Sainz got a penalty for impeding Albon in Canada despite the latter still being able to reach the following phase despite that, and the same with the Vettel-Sainz case in Austria twelve months ago.
Martin
29th June 2019, 16:33
What about consistency with Ricciardo/Kimi last weekend?
Hugh (@hugh11)
29th June 2019, 16:51
That was different as the stewards ruled that Ricciardo had taken reasonable steps to avoid holding him up. I doubt the same case could be made here, as it was all a bit too little too late.
La_enjambrazon
29th June 2019, 16:16
Lewis should not get a penalty because he didn’t impede Kimi intentionally. A reprimand at maximum is what Lewis deserves. Remember 2011 Turkish GP how Michael Schumacher impeded Hamilton for the whole last sector and get no penalty because Lewis later made it to the Q3.
Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
29th June 2019, 16:22
Has to be a penalty then.
trublu (@trublu)
29th June 2019, 16:26
Bet all calling for a penaty didn’t think the same when Ricciardo didn’t get a penalty just last week for a similar issue.
Dale
29th June 2019, 17:31
Can someone get you a box of Kleenex?
Islander
29th June 2019, 16:31
Truth. It will catch you out.
John H
29th June 2019, 17:01
Should clearly be a penalty. Doesn’t matter if Kimi got through anyway, there are many precedents for this. Hamilton lying is pretty dumb to be honest.
JB (@)
29th June 2019, 17:18
How is he lying? The team told him he’d be caught but they didn’t say when or where, did they? When he said he wasn’t aware the Alfa was closing on him he meant at the very point they met, not closing on him half a circuit away for example.
He saw the Alfa too late, if he braked off line he would literally have stopped on the apex, instead he tried to accelerate past that point to avoid getting in the way. Clumsy yes, lying no.
wayne
29th June 2019, 17:17
when did lewis lie? yes he was told the cars are on fast laps etc but unfortunately he was at the corner when kimi was approaching. he didnt know exactly where he was at that tym. until he saw him. he decided to break bt saw they wud come together at the apex so decided to shoot across. he did not lie.
JB (@)
29th June 2019, 17:19
Exactly!
Fantomius (@liko41)
29th June 2019, 17:25
At least all Hamilton h@ters will stop crying now.
Oh, wait..
James
29th June 2019, 17:35
This is as bad if not worse than the Vettel penalty two races ago. In this case there was no intent whatsoever, plus the same kind of mild infringement that needn’t have been punished. Why aren’t fans outraged by this penalty too?