Lewis Hamilton will have no further action taken against him for his near-miss with Lando Norris in FP1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the stewards have decided.
Norris and Hamilton nearly collided at the final corner of the Yas Marina circuit when the McLaren star was on a push lap.
Hamilton was driving slowly at the time and getting ready for a push lap of his own, seemingly unaware of Norris coming up behind him.
Norris locked up one of his tyres in taking evasive action to avoid colliding with Hamilton with stewards revealing they would investigate the incident after the session.
Lewis Hamilton received no reprimand
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There was a chance that Hamilton would receive a warning or even a fine, but the seven-time world champion has escaped any punishment.
The stewards point to a Haas that was entering the pits at the same time Hamilton was entering the final corner, leaving the drivers nowhere to go.
“The driver of Car 44 [Hamilton] was driving slowly on the left side of the track approaching turn 16, this being the racing line,” read a stewards’ statement.
“At the same time another car was entering the pit lane and therefore occupied the right side of the track.
“Car 4 [Norris] was closing in at high speed and was impacted by Car 44 sitting on the racing line into Turn 16 to prepare his next lap.
“However, the inside line would have been open and there was space for Car 4 to overtake on the inside.
“The driver of Car 4 chose not to move to the inside as he was not sure if Car 44 would close the gap to start a flying lap.
“The Stewards conclude that the incident was kind of a misunderstanding between the drivers involved, but does not meet the threshold of being considered as an unnecessary impeding in Free Practice.”
Lewis Hamilton has one final race with Mercedes
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The Drivers’ Championship was settled in Las Vegas last month with Max Verstappen clinching his fourth consecutive world title.
But it’s still all to play for in the Constructors’ Championship between McLaren and Ferrari this weekend.
Ferrari trail McLaren by 21 points and have been hampered further with Leclerc taking a 10-place grid penalty for a new battery unit.
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Lando Norris had to take evasive action
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It’s also close between Leclerc and Norris in the fight to finish second in the championship.
There’s just eight points between them both after Leclerc finished second in the Qatar Grand Prix last week.
Hamilton has nothing to compete for in Abu Dhabi with Mercedes locked in fourth in the Constructors’ Championship and the only way he’ll climb above George Russell in the Drivers’ Standings is by winning with the fastest lap as well as his team-mate not scoring a single point.
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