Mercedes will face no penalty despite the stewards finding some team personnel did not wear required protective gear while attending to Lewis Hamilton’s car in the pits.
The stewards found almost every other team had committed a similar infraction and decided punishing all of them “would not serve a useful purpose.”The infringement occured when Hamilton came into the pits during SQ2. “The stewards heard from the team representative and reviewed video evidence and determined that team personnel carried out work on car 44 [Hamilton’s] front wing while it was in its pit stop position during the sprint qualifying session, and were not wearing the required protective gear.”
This was in breach of F1’s regulations which specify what type of helmets the pit crew must wear, and also state that “the use of appropriate eye protection is compulsory.”
“However, as we were examining the conduct of the team in relation to this infringement (which was reported to us by race control), it came to our attention that a number of other teams had engaged in similar work without helmets and/or without eye protection during the session either within the pit stop position or in close proximity to it,” the stewards noted.
“Certainly, those that were working on the car within the pit stop positions would also have been in breach of Article 34.13 (for example by touching the car or jacking up the car). Indeed, those slightly outside of their pit stop position may not been in breach of the above article but the distinction, from a safety perspective (which is the likely purpose for this rule), was not obvious to us.
“Furthermore, it appears to be the established practice to jack the car up, while blowers are used to cool the brakes, within the pit stop position to bring the car back into the garage. That too, read strictly, could be in breach of the above regulations. So, in these circumstances, penalising one team, where all or nearly all the teams may potentially have been in breach of this article in some form or the other would not serve a useful purpose.”
The stewards therefore took no action against Mercedes or any other team for this breach, but urged the FIA to “consider whether changes need to be made to either the current practices during qualifying/dprint qualifying or the regulations themselves.”
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Tristan
4th May 2024, 2:15
I guess the team(s) that were doing the right thing might as well not bother. Never like “everyone does it so don’t bother” attitude. They should all be penalised half a mil to be put towards the FIA road safety grant or something.
SteveR (@stever)
4th May 2024, 3:06
You know, there are rules and there are stupid rules……
Tristan
4th May 2024, 3:21
Wearing full safety gear in pit lane is a stupid rule now? Interesting take. Eye protection is debatable, but a helmet should be a given.
Jere (@jerejj)
4th May 2024, 6:46
Tristan Mechanics generally only wear their gear during the races & sprints, which has been the case since forever.
SteveP
4th May 2024, 8:38
The question, in safety terms, is whether the actions are any less safe during the race than practice or qualy.
If is unsafe during the race, surely it’s just as unsafe at other times?
notagrumpyfan
4th May 2024, 7:40
The problem there is that ‘rules’ are the same for all, whereas ‘stupid rules’ are different for many and change over time.
The Stewards did the right thing this time; I’m not talking about ‘not penalising’, but about instructing FIA to review this rule.
Mr B
4th May 2024, 7:03
Didn’t your parents teach you that ‘two wrongs make a right’ and as youngster?!!
S
4th May 2024, 3:12
Typical F1 justification. How utterly embarrassing.
That effectively gives the teams the power to do literally anything they want, as long as they all do it…
What are rules for, anyway? Who cares.
Asd
4th May 2024, 11:49
Those specific rules have nothing to do with the competition itself, so common sense and a degree of fexibility should always be applied!
It’s a different thing when a rule decides who the race winner is etc. but this? Come on man, let us be more human here, F1 is sterile enough.
My verdict: VERY GOOD performance by FIA.
S
4th May 2024, 13:09
If this were a game of Under-8’s football, I’d probably share your opinion on flexibility in applying the rules. It would be just a bit of fun with people who lack responsibility and maturity.
But this isn’t that. It’s Formula 1. Though there is a similarity with the lack of maturity and responsibility.
Who does it help when rules aren’t applied consistently as written? Mercedes, on this occasion….
It’s an ongoing (and very long term) issue amongst teams and viewers of F1, and this is just another example that the written rules don’t really mean anything and simply can’t be relied on.
It’s not at all a surprise, by the way. It’s basically how they handle track limits at Austria every year too.
Everyone is breaking the rules, so we just won’t apply them anymore.
Jack
4th May 2024, 5:17
Yawn, because it’s Mercedes no penalty necessary.
If it’s a rule then it’s a rule that needs to be penalised for if breached otherwise it makes a mockery of the rules
Jere (@jerejj)
4th May 2024, 6:46
Expect no one wears their gear during qualifyings & practice sessions.
rprp
4th May 2024, 6:46
Perhaps reading the article a little more closely would help. It’s not because it was Mercedes, it was because everyone is at it.
You could argue that the stewards should make an example out of everyone, or just come to the conclusion that it’s not worth doing anything as everyone is equally guilty.
But no, you’ve taken about 4 words from the article and jumped to a daft conclusion.
W-K (@w-k)
4th May 2024, 11:53
Did you think of why, if other teams were doing it, why Hamilton and Mercedes were the ones reported
SteveP
4th May 2024, 8:43
Hand out penalties to all then.
rprp
4th May 2024, 12:27
And the very next line…
SteveP
4th May 2024, 13:45
You did say I could argue for it :)
rprp
4th May 2024, 16:25
Ha, touché