Lewis Hamilton was demoted three places on the grid for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Race control found that he had impeded Sergio Perez during the first phase of qualifying on Saturday.
Perez was on his second fast lap on his first set of tyres when he caught Hamilton at turn nine in Q1. The Mercedes driver moved to the outside of the corner but Perez ran wide on him on the exit and slowed, causing his lap to be aborted.
“What the hell is this guy doing?” fumed Perez. “Fucking hell.”
Hamilton had just been instructed to pit when he was caught by Perez. His race engineer Peter Bonnington initially warned him that Kevin Magnussen was three seconds back and as the Haas passed he added: “Then you have Perez, he’s five seconds back. And Perez two and a half. Perez one and a half.”
When Hamilton saw that Perez had slowed down, he said the Red Bull driver had exaggerated how much he had been held up. “I don’t understand it, I was way too wide at turn nine,” he said. “I tried to make it look like I was in his way.”
Hamilton later added: “I was way out of his way.”
Advertisement | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Perez was able to secure a place in Q2 after taking another set of soft tyres for his final run, but he claimed this would not have been necessary had Hamilton not held him up. When informed over the radio that he had made it through Q1, Perez replied: “Yeah, but we wasted a bloody set (of tyres).”
After speaking to both drivers, the race stewards concluded that Hamilton could have done more to avoid getting in the way of his rival.
“The driver of car 44 (Hamilton) was on an in lap and was informed by the team that car 11 (Perez) was closing in on a fast lap as he entered turn eight,” the stewards explained.
“He then came off the line at the exit of turn eight with the intention of making way for car 11. However, by the time car 11 arrived, car 44 had already entered turn nine and was rejoining the racing line at the exit of turn nine, clearly impeding car 11.
“The race directors come to the conclusion that although the driver was given a warning by the team and attempted to avoid the other car, he could have braked harder so as not to obstruct the other car. They therefore consider the obstruction to be unnecessary in terms of the regulations. Therefore, in accordance with previous decisions, one starting grid position will be moved back.”
Hamilton has been demoted to his second lowest starting position of the season, having started from 18th place at the Chinese Grand Prix. Yuki Tsunoda, Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen each move up one position.
Updated starting grid for the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix
Advertisement | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Don’t miss anything from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no advertising. Sign up here:
Dutch Grand Prix 2024
Browse all articles about the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix
