Hamilton’s unnecessary penalties
“Where is that in the rules?” Hamilton complained on the radio after being told he’d earned a pair of five-second penalties for two practice starts carried out in what was deemed the wrong place during the reconnaissance laps. The punishments, for what amounted to minor transgressions before the race had even begun, do seem harsh. But in truth, Hamilton and Mercedes only really have themselves to blame for losing this race.
The sporting regulations state “all drivers going to the pit exit at this time must do so at a constant speed and with constant throttle”, which doesn’t give much clue to what is allowed regarding practice starts. But at each grand prix, an area is usually allocated for the purpose and in Russia, race director Michael Masi’s notes for the event stated, as is typical: “Practice starts may only be carried out on the right-hand side after the pit exits lights.” Now, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff claimed this was exactly what Hamilton did, that Masi’s note didn’t specify where and how far beyond the pit exit lights practice starts could be carried out. But he was splitting hairs. After getting the green light from his race engineer Pete Bonnington that he was clear to do so, Hamilton chose an odd place right at the point where pit exit meets race track to make his starts, avoiding the designated area that had been heavily ‘rubbered up’ by other cars. No one else diverted from the norm in this way. As harsh as the penalties were, Hamilton and Mercedes left themselves open to scrutiny.
Beyond whether it was fair or not, his response sure was interesting. Hamilton didn’t exactly take it well during the race and although he salvaged third place, his head – for once – seemed to drop. As for his ill-considered comment on the stewards – “They are out to stop me” – there were shades of his childhood hero Ayrton Senna in those sentiments. No need for conspiracy theories here. But like Senna, Hamilton seems to feed off an ‘us against the world’ attitude during pinch-points of pressure.
The reconnaissance incident followed on the back of team and driver mistakes in qualifying that could have left him 15th on the grid and led to him starting the race from pole position on the ‘wrong’ soft-compound tyre. Sochi was simply one he’ll quickly want to forget.