The stewards have given Lewis Hamilton a formal warning after he impeded a rival for the third time this season.
Hamilton crowded Andrea Kimi Antonelli as the pair approached turn four during the second practice session. The Mercedes driver had to take to the run-off area approaching the corner to avoid his rival.
The stewards do not ordinarily issue penalties for impeding incidents in practice. They explained their decision to give Hamilton an official warning for the incident.
“The driver of car 44 [Hamilton], although constantly checking his mirrors after being informed by the team about car 12 [Antonelli] closing in, slowly moved on to the racing line on the approach
to turn four and thereby unnecessarily impeded car 12 which had to take evasive action.
“The driver of car 44 apologised directly after realising his mistake. The stewards determined that, despite the more lenient approach to impeding in free practice, the impeding was unnecessary and that a warning to the driver is warranted.”
After the incident Hamilton said on his radio he had been unable to see the Mercedes approaching behind him.
The stewards took no action against Hamilton when he was found to have impeded Alexander Albon in another practice session in Jeddah earlier this year. Although they ruled Hamilton “unnecessarily impeded car 23 during practice two at turn 17” they noted that “as agreed with the teams, unless the impeding during free practice was such that it could be regarded as dangerous, there will be no penalty for such impeding.”
However Hamilton was given a three-place grid drop for impeding Max Verstappen in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix. On that occasion the stewards ruled Hamilton’s race engineer Ricardo Adami had incorrectly told him Verstappen was not on a flying lap as he approached the Ferrari.
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2025 Austrian Grand Prix
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- Hamilton given formal warning after impeding a rival for third time this year
- Norris leads McLaren one-two ahead of Verstappen in second practice
- As it happened: 2025 Austrian Grand Prix second practice
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