Lewis Hamilton avoids post-race penalty at British Grand Prix
Hamilton was facing a potential penalty for an alleged yellow flag infringement at Silverstone
Lewis Hamilton will not receive a penalty for a potential yellow flag infringement after being summoned to the stewards at the British Grand Prix.
Hamilton's race was marred with bad luck after he initially was hit with a five second penalty for moving before the lights went out at the start of the Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver managed to cross the line in P3 but was running in second to his teammate and race winner Charles Leclerc when a late safety car deployment, prompted by Max Verstappen's crash, led the team to pit him in the hopes of a late charge.
The race ended under safety car conditions and Hamilton's pit stop meant he had conceded second place to George Russell. Hamilton will be thankful to avoid a penalty which would have risked putting him out of the points after a difficult race.
After being summoned Hamilton had seemed resigned to the fact that a penalty would in fact be issued.
"I'm probably going to get a penalty right now as well. I went through a yellow flag and I didn't see it", Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
"So I jumped start and then the yellow flag. When it rains, it pours."
Late Safety Car Confusion
Viewers were left scratching their heads when the race finished under the safety car despite looking like there would be one more lap of racing.
On the final lap of the race the timing screens showed that it would be returning to the pit lane. However the safety car did not dive into the pits and continued on for one final lap.
A statement provided by the FIA explained: "The Safety Car period regulation, Article B5. 13.5, states that one lap must be completed following the unlapping procedure. This process was followed by Race Operations. The 'Safety Car In This Lap' message was displayed erroneously due to a software error."
