The stewards have cleared Lewis Hamilton of gaining an advantage by leaving the track during the Montreal sprint race.
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Although the stewards noted a resemblance between Hamilton’s move on Oscar Piastri and another incident that did receive a penalty, they found distinguishing circumstances that justified clearing Hamilton.
Nico Hulkenberg received a 10-second time penalty for forcing Liam Lawson off the track at turn 13. The stewards concluded Hulkenberg “left the track at turn 13 whilst defending against car 30 [Lawson] into turn 13, and by doing so, gained a lasting advantage over car 30 by maintaining the position.”
“The driver rejoined the track in front of car 30 and did not give the position back,” the stewards added. “The stewards deemed car 27 [Hulkenberg] was ‘defending’ its position. The stewards determine that Car 27 gained a sporting advantage in position and that this advantage was not relinquished.”
By contrast, the stewards found Hamilton was not defending when he left the track.
“Car 44 [Hamilton] was in front of car 81 [Piastri] on the approach to turn 13 and left the track, drove through the chicane and rejoined, in front of car 81,” they explained.
“However this incident differs from the previous incident in this [race] involving cars 27 and 30 in that car 81 was not in an overtaking position on car 44. Accordingly car 44 was not deemed by the Stewards to be ‘defending’ its position hence was not deemed to gain a lasting advantage, consistent with the Driving Standards Guidelines.”
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Hulkenberg was one of two drivers penalised for incidents involving Lawson at the same corner. Sergio Perez also received a 10-second time penalty for forcing the Racing Bulls driver off the track.
The stewards said Lawson “was attempting to overtake car 11 [Perez] on the straight before turn 13” and that Perez “moved to the right of the track then moved back to the left forcing car 30 off the track.”
Lance Stroll avoided a penalty after he failed to complete the formation lap despite lining up on the grid; the stewards accepted that a technical problem caused his car to be pushed off the grid, so no sanction was applied.
Esteban Ocon remains under investigation for a possible tyre pressure infringement by his Haas team prior to the race.
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