Mercedes told Lewis Hamilton to give up fourth place to Carlos Sainz Jnr despite not knowing whether he would get a penalty for passing the Ferrari driver off-track.
Hamilton gained the place from his rival as the pair went side-by-side through the first corner at the start. However Hamilton ran wide at the exit, putting all four wheels outside track limits, and Mercedes were concerned he might be penalised for gaining a position off-track.
The FIA no longer advises teams whether to give up positions to avoid penalties in such situations, as was the case in earlier seasons. Mercedes were therefore unsure whether Hamilton would be penalised for the move.
Mercedes technical director James Allison confirmed Hamilton “didn’t have to” give the place up. “It was a question of judgement,” he said in a video released by the team.
“We all saw the start of the race along with all the people who viewed it. We saw the little tangle that Lewis and Carlos got into with Lewis just being edged wide off the circuit, keeping it lit and getting ahead of Carlos.
“Immediately the question in all our minds, and Lewis’ mind is: Was that place gained by leaving the track? Did I gain an advantage by leaving the track?
“You know in the back of your head that you get a little bit more leniency from the stewards sometimes in the first corner of the first lap of a race. But you can’t rely on it.”
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The FIA has increased the standard penalty for gaining a position by going off-track from five seconds to 10 seconds this year. This made Mercedes less willing to risk staying ahead and being penalised.
“You know that the consequences if you don’t give the place back and the stewards rule against you is worse than just giving the place back,” Allison explained. “So we did what we always do which is get on the blower to the FIA and ask for a bit of guidance as to whether that looked a bit much to them.
“They did what they always do which is to be as inscrutable as the sphinx and say ‘well that’s up to you, you need to make your own judgement.’ The more we looked at it, the more we thought we probably won’t get away with this.”
Race control announced on the third lap of the race that the incident had been noted. On the following lap they confirmed Hamilton was under investigation for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, which led Mercedes to…
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