Lewis Hamilton under threat as FIA launches Bahrain GP investigation
Lewis Hamilton is under investigation by the FIA stewards
Lewis Hamilton is under investigation by the FIA stewards after impeding Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto during FP2 at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
It is the latest impeding incident involving Hamilton, who has come under fire over recent weeks for blocking a number of drivers on track.
Lewis Hamilton under investigation by FIA over new impeding incident
Hamilton was classified fifth in Friday’s second practice session in Sepang as Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc set the pace.
The Ferrari driver was involved in an impeding incident with Bortoleto at the halfway stage of FP2.
Bortoleto encountered a slow-moving Hamilton on the approach to Turn 9, the slow left-hand hairpin located in the second sector at Sepang.
The Audi driver was heard airing his frustration in the aftermath of the incident.
The full exchange went as follows:
Bortoleto: “What the f**k is this guy doing, man?”
Audi: “He’s on a cooldown lap.”
Bortoleto: “I know, but he sees me coming and he just keeps blocking.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton reported to Ferrari that he was having trouble seeing through his right-hand mirror.
He said: “I can’t see through my right mirror, so keep me up to date.”
The incident was noted by the stewards before being upgraded to a post-session investigation a short time later.
Hamilton and a Ferrari team representative are required to report to the stewards at 1730 local time in Malaysia.
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It is the latest in a series of impeding incidents involving Hamilton over recent months.
The seven-time world champion was hit with a three-place grid penalty at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July for blocking Oscar Piastri’s McLaren in qualifying.
Hamilton was then criticised over team radio by a number of drivers – including Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg and Arvid Lindblad – in Friday practice at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid.
At last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, meanwhile, Hamilton was given a reprimand for blocking Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson in FP2.
Hamilton, who avoided a penalty for the incident with Lawson, went on to blame the F1 2026 engine rules for his close call with the Racing Bulls driver.
He said: “That’s not the drivers’ fault.
“That’s what the FIA did with the decisions at the beginning of the year and we’re trying to manage the best we can as drivers on track in finding the right gaps and not getting in the way of people.
“Naturally, it’s never an intention from any driver to get in the way.
“Basically with the way the rules are set, when you do an out-lap and when you come round the last corner to start your lap, you have no K [electrical energy], so you have no battery deployment.
“You just have the ICE, so it’s something like 500bhp less.”
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