As Piastri opened his final flying lap, he found Hamilton on the racing line approaching Turn 1, leaving the McLaren driver with no option but to back out of the throttle.
Photo: Race Pictures
“At the approach to Turn 1, Car 44 was travelling at a significantly reduced speed on the racing line while Car 81 was approaching on a push lap,” the Stewards explained.
“The driver of Car 44 explained that he had just completed a fast lap and did not receive the team’s radio message regarding the approaching Car 81 until the latter was already in close proximity. He further stated that, due to the positioning of his car on the track, Car 81 was not visible in his mirrors.
The Ferrari driver said he believed every car had already completed its lap, as he was the first to leave the pit lane and thought Charles Leclerc was the last driver behind him at the time. Hamilton also stressed that the session had been clean until that point and insisted there was never any intention to impede Piastri.
“I was told literally when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea he was coming. Everyone came out behind me, I was the first out, so I thought everyone had finished their lap, and I think Charles was the car that was behind me when I left the pit lane, as far as I was aware. Crazy because it’d been clean and obviously it wasn’t intentional.”
