F1: Hamilton Fined 10K, Keeps Pole

Formula 1

F1: Hamilton Fined 10K, Keeps Pole

Lewis Hamilton's pole-winning lap in Canada was scrutinized...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted June 12, 2010 Montreal (CAN)

The fuel level in Lewis Hamilton's pole-winning car has been called into question. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Lewis Hamilton was fined $10,000 but won't be penalized further for actions on his in-lap after securing the pole in qualifying in Montreal.

LINK > QUALIFYING RESULTS: CANADIAN GRAND PRIX – MONTREAL
LINK > FINAL PRACTICE SPEEDS: CANADIAN GRAND PRIX – MONTREAL

Hamilton was told by the team to stop on the circuit because he was so marginal on fuel that he was at risk of not having enough left for the FIA sample at the end of the session. The car must have at least one liter in the tank for scrutineering purposes.

He stopped on the straight before the pits, and after coasting for a while, got out and pushed, before being picked up by the medical car and given a lift home.

The question mark is over the fact that drivers are given a lap time within which they have to return to the pits during qualifying, a legacy of the fuel-saving days of several seasons ago.

The FIA view is that if a driver suffers a genuine problem and has to stop, it would be treated as force majeure, and that does not apply in this case.

Furthermore, in the two sectors that Hamilton completed, he was well over the prescribed 30 percent limit. His first sector was 33s (as opposed to around 21s on a normal quick lap), and the middle sector was 55s (compared with 24s). In other words, he would not have made the time even if he had finished the lap.

One chief engineer from a rival team told SPEED.com: "It's definitely illegal. They took advantage by cheating. Otherwise next time we'll all put one less lap in the cars."

While clearly there has to be some provision for drivers suffering a genuine mechanical problem after setting a time, it would seem that McLaren has some explaining to do. It's thought the team told the FIA there was a miscommunication in the team about the fuel level in Hamilton's car.

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and hosts a race preview show on Sirius XM. He has written about F1 for SPEEDtv.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter

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