FIA explain why Lewis Hamilton avoided punishment with three collisions triggered in Miami

Lewis Hamilton in the Miami Sprint.

The FIA have given written reasons why no further action was taken against Lewis Hamilton at the start of the Sprint at the Miami Grand Prix.

Hamilton insisted he went for a gap at the apex of Turn 1, but Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso claimed he “arrived like a bull” as a chain reaction took place with multiple incidents.

FIA give reasons behind no further action on Lewis Hamilton contact

Alonso had made contact with team-mate Lance Stroll as Hamilton surged up the inside from a long way back, with Lando Norris subsequently being caught up in the melee and both Stroll and Norris ending up retiring from the Sprint as a result.

Alonso gave a withering assessment of the FIA in questioning why they did not give Hamilton a penalty for that moment – though the Mercedes driver was given a 10-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane – but Alonso felt that move from Hamilton “ruined the race of many drivers” earlier on Saturday.

But in explaining their position, the FIA said multiple instances of contact had in fact taken place at the start and, while Hamilton “contributed” to the outcome of the incidents, they were not able to make him or any other driver “wholly or predominantly to blame” – while highlighting their additional “latitude” for greater leniency in first-lap contact.

The verdict from the FIA read: “The Stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and in-car video evidence and determined that Cars 14, 18, 44 and 4 [Alonso, Stroll, Hamilton and Norris, ed.] collided when they were navigating Turn 1 of Lap 1.

“The collision resulted in damage to Car 14, 18 [Alonso and Stroll] and caused Car 4 [Norris] to retire.

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“From the video evidence, it appeared that there were at least three collisions that occurred – the first between Cars 14 & 18 and then between Car 44 [Hamilton] and Car 14 and finally between Car 18 and Car 4.

“While it appeared to us that the incidents began with Cars 14 & 18, the sudden and fast arrival of Car 44 contributed to the various collisions.

“However, we were not able to identify one or more drivers wholly or predominantly to blame for the various collisions or any one of them.

“Also keeping in mind that this was in Turn 1 of Lap 1 where greater latitude is given to drivers for incidents, we took no further action.”