Lewis Hamilton Reprimanded by F1 Stewards After Azerbaijan GP Incident

Lewis Hamilton has been reprimanded by Formula 1 stewards following an incident where he impeded Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson during the second practice session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The event occurred on Friday while Hamilton was on an out lap harvesting energy in the final sector in Baku, whereas Lawson was approaching on a fast lap.

According to the stewards' report, Hamilton was informed twice by his team that Lawson was closing in. However, Hamilton failed to remain on the extreme left between Turns 16 and 18 as required by the Race Director's instructions and stayed on the racing line approaching Turn 19. This forced Lawson to lift and slightly brake, leading the stewards to conclude that Hamilton unnecessarily impeded Lawson in a severe manner given the layout and high-speed nature of the section.

Lawson immediately voiced his frustration over the team radio, a sentiment backed by his race engineer Alexandre Iliopoulos. Explaining his perspective after FP2, Hamilton stated that his car's energy deployment unexpectedly died as he went to full throttle at Turn 18, rapidly closing the speed gap. He called for clearer guidelines from the FIA regarding closing speed differences under energy management rules, noting that drivers do not intend to get in each other's way.