The stewards’ investigation into Friday’s FP2 chaos at Sepang has a verdict — and it lands on more than just Lewis Hamilton. The incident happened at the exit of Turn 9, when the seven-time champion drifted back onto the racing line at around 80-85 km/h on a cool-down lap, straight into the path of Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who was closing at roughly 240 km/h on a push lap.

The Brazilian didn’t mince words over the radio: “What the fuck is this guy doing, man?” Told that Hamilton was on a cool-down lap, he shot back: “I know, but he sees me coming, and he just keeps blocking.” Bortoleto had to brake hard and run onto the rumble strip to avoid contact, with a closing-speed gap north of 150 km/h.

Stewards credited Hamilton’s defence — a damaged right mirror, which is why he’d radioed his team to “keep me up to date” on traffic — and let him off with a warning. Ferrari didn’t get off so lightly: a €10,000 fine, with stewards ruling the team knew about the mirror damage and should have kept warning its driver about approaching cars regardless of whether they were push or cool-down laps. A small price for a cracked mirror, but a lesson in pit-wall communication.

Source: RacingNews365