Lewis Hamilton has been called before the Baku stewards after Liam Lawson came upon his slow-moving Ferrari through the flat-out final sector of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix circuit on Thursday.
Lawson was approaching where cars are running at more than 300 km/h. He avoided the Ferrari, then vented over team radio.
“Oh my god, that is so dangerous.”
Hamilton was noted for an alleged breach of Article 27 of the Race Director’s Competition Notes and Article B4.1.1 of the FIA F1 Regulations, both of which cover impeding: failing to get out of the way of a car on a flying lap.
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Practice impeding is more usually met with a reprimand or a warning, with grid drops kept for the same offence in qualifying.
Russell half a second clear at the front
George Russell rewrote the timesheet while the stewards’ summons circulated. The Mercedes driver set a fastest lap of 1:43.347, 0.552s clear of team-mate Kimi Antonelli and 0.827s clear of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
Charles Leclerc was the leading Ferrari in fourth, one place ahead of Hamilton. Lawson finished twelfth.
Antonelli’s lap came despite him spending roughly half the session in the garage while Mercedes fixed a hydraulic problem carried over from FP1.
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Lindblad’s costly hit at the Castle section
The session’s only red flag came from Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad, who crashed at the narrow Castle section on entry to Turn 8. He ran fractionally wide, clipped the wall with his right rear, and was pitched into the barrier further along with the right front.
“I’ve crashed, I’m really sorry,” Lindblad told his engineer.
He climbed out unhurt, but the impact left significant damage and put his mechanics on the clock to get the car ready for FP3.
Qualifying moved forward for a rare Saturday race
Qualifying starts at 4pm local time on Friday, with lights out at 3pm local time on Saturday. The whole weekend was shifted forward a day to leave Sunday clear for Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day on 27 September.
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