Stewards summoned Lewis Hamilton for ignoring the yellow flag and almost crashing with Nikita Mazepin ahead of the race.
During the final practice session in Jeddah, Lewis Hamilton was believed to have ignored a double-waved yellow flag. However, the stewards decided to take no further action against him.
They said that the double yellow flag warning on the FIA Marshalling System was activated at Light Panel Number 6 accidentally. No yellow lights were displayed to Hamilton.
“Unlike other incidents this year, there was no yellow flag or yellow light displayed to the driver. Hence, no breach of the regulations has occurred,” the stewards further added.
Hamilton ignoring yellow flags in FP3#SaudiArabianGP #Hamilton #F1 pic.twitter.com/3ffx8HkG6g
— Mr Matthew F1 (@NotMrMatthewF1) December 4, 2021
Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner was not impressed by the decision as Max Verstappen was handed a penalty for ignoring yellow flags at the Qatar GP last month.
The second incident for which Hamilton was being criticised was the almost-collision with Haas driver Nikita Mazepin. While on a cool-down lap at turn eight, Hamilton was unaware when Mazepin came speeding past the British driver.
Mazepin was forced to take evasive action as he cut the corner to avoid a nasty crash ahead of the Sunday race. For this, Mercedes received a fine of €25,000 while Hamilton was left clean with no punishments with angered Christian Horner.
However, the Red Bull team chose not to appeal against the FIA’s decision.
Also Read: Max Verstappen’s father details sour relationship between Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull superstar
Nikita Mazepin is happy with Lewis Hamilton not getting a penalty
Meanwhile, Nikita Mazepin admitted that he is happy about Lewis Hamilton walking away without getting penalised. He said that he would not want Hamilton to be penalised for something that involved both of them.
However, Haas’ team principal Guenther Steiner was not happy with the decision. Steiner blamed FIA for favouring big teams like Mercedes and said that the decision would not have been the same the other way around.
