Lewis Hamilton F1: Why he wasn’t punished for a start crash in Sprint Miami

Lando Norris and Lance Stroll were eliminated and Fernando Alonso suffered damage in a crash at the start of the F1 Sprint on Saturday’s Miami Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton was blamed by his colleagues, but he was not punished.

Hamilton had to start the sprint race at the Miami International Autodrome from twelfth position after missing out on SQ3 on Friday. The seven-time world champion got away from his spot well and decided to dive into a gap on the inside of Turn 1. Alonso had to make room for the Mercedes to avoid contact, but as a result he hit his Aston Martin teammate Stroll. The Canadian was then catapulted into Norris’s McLaren. Hamilton was able to continue and finished eighth after a titanic battle with Kevin Magnussen, but was classified sixteenth after a 20-second time penalty for driving too fast in the pit lane behind the Safety Car.

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Alonso and Norris point to Hamilton

Alonso immediately blamed Hamilton for the start crash. “He came into the corner like a bull,” he said over the board radio. The 2005 and 2006 world champion dropped out after the Sprint DAZN knowing that he did not expect any punishment for Hamilton. “I don’t think they will decide anything because he is not Spaniard. But I think he ruined the race for a few people, especially for Norris, who had a very fast car and was out because of that incident.” Norris told the media present that it was “abundantly clear” who was responsible. “Lewis swooped in and caused the crash. There was nothing I could do about it.”

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Stewards statement

While Alonso and Norris pointed at Hamilton, fans were also critical on social media, especially when it became known that no penalty was handed out to the man from Stevenage. The stewards at the race management stated: “The evidence from the video footage shows that three accidents occurred – first between cars 14 and 18 [Alonso en Stroll]then between cars 44 and 14 [Hamilton en Alonso] and finally between cars 18 and 4 [Stroll en Norris]. While it appears the incidents started with cars 14 and 18, the sudden and rapid arrival [in de eerste bocht] of car 44 contributed to the several accidents. However, we were unable to identify one or more drivers as wholly or largely at fault for any or all of the various accidents. We take into account that this happened in the first corner of the first lap where more leeway is given to the drivers, and therefore no penalty was imposed.”

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