F1 stewards make Lewis Hamilton penalty call after 'pushing and hitting' rival

26 November 2023 , 18:31

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Lewis Hamilton avoided a penalty after being accused of ramming Pierre Gasly (Image: Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton avoided a penalty after Pierre Gasly accused the Brit of "pushing and hitting" him during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The incident happened just 16 laps into the season finale. Hamilton was bearing down on the Alpine ahead of him who seemed to be buckling under the pressure that was being put upon him.

Gasly locked up a wheel going into turn six which presented the Mercedes driver with an opportunity to overtake. But the lock-up meant the Alpine was in a strange position on the road and, despite braking, the seven-time world champion was unable to avoid contact.

The touch was very light and caused no damage at all to the Alpine. Hamilton actually came off worse as it bent one of his front wing endplates out of shape.

That didn't stop Gasly from complaining over the radio. "He pushed me, hit me," he told his team, while Hamilton also jumped on the airwaves to report: "I've just damaged my front wing. He locked up ahead of me."

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The incident was forwarded to the stewards by race control who decided it was worthy of investigation. But, after reviewing the matter, they decided that Hamilton did not deserve to be punished and that no further action needed to be taken.

The official decision document read: "Car 10 [Gasly] locked its front right tyre into turn six, resulting in that car approaching the turn on a slightly different line at a slightly lower speed which was obviously unexpected by the driver of Car 44 [Hamilton].

"Car 44 made light contact with the rear of Car 10 in the turn. The stewards determine that no driver was wholly or predominantly to blame... no further action."

Hamilton went into the pits a couple of laps after the incident for a change of tyres with the endplate flapping in the turbulence. But the front wing was not changed as the team clearly deemed that it was both safe to continue and not overly detrimental to the performance of his car.

The Brit cut a glum figure as he spoke to the media after the race, clearly not over-enthused about having finished ninth. But they were crucial points for the team as Mercedes held off the challenge of Ferrari on the final day to finish second ahead of them in the constructors' championship by just three points.

Daniel Moxon