The Azerbaijan Grand Prix stewards cleared both Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris for driving “unnecessarily slowly” during a peculiar incident in Q2.
It was the kind of incident the stewards have recently indicated they intend to clamp down on. So why were the pair not penalised?
Recent seasons have seen the benefit of a slipstream become increasingly important in qualifying and nowhere else is this as critical as Baku, with the longest single stretch of full-throttle running on the calendar.
This has led to simultaneously comical and concerning scenes, such as in Monza in 2020, where multiple drivers missed out on starting a flying lap in the final phase of Q3 as drivers slowed down en masse to not be the first car in the queue. This has only exacerbated the existing problem of drivers wanting clear air for the majority of their flying laps, resulting in cars bunching together in the final sector and creating dangerous hazards for those pushing to set a time.
In response, the FIA introduced a maximum time that drivers must not exceed during sessions, or risk being penalised for driving “unnecessarily slowly”. However, despite this rule, cars have continued to bunch up on out-laps. At the Spanish Grand Prix 18 drivers were found to have breached the maximum lap time on 55 occasions over the course of the three qualifying sessions.
Heading into qualifying on the Baku City Circuit, in a Mercedes that produces among the highest levels of drag of any car in the pit lane, Hamilton was especially keen to make sure he could find a slipstream from a rival to help him maximise his top speed along the main straight.
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Q2 incident radio transcripts
With just under six minutes remaining in Q2, Hamilton was circulating slowly on a warm-up lap and looking for a car that he could gain a slipstream from down the long main straight: