Masi: No issue with Hamilton confronting stewards

Jamie Woodhouse
Lewis Hamilton PA

Lewis Hamilton has issued a message of contrition after his controversial statements at the end of the Russian Grand Prix.

FIA race director Michael Masi has no issues with the way Lewis Hamilton confronted the Stewards’ at the Italian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was given a 10-second stop-go penalty at Monza for entering the pit lane when it was closed after Kevin Magnussen’s Haas came to a stop near the pit entry.

Mercedes were far from pleased with the decision, and the same could be said for Hamilton although he did accept responsibility for the error.

Shortly after the incident Charles Leclerc caused the race to be red flagged after he crashed heavily into the tyre wall at Parabolica, thankfully he was unhurt.

And during that interval Hamilton was seen walking to the stewards’ room to discuss his penalty.

Masi defended the stewards, saying that the drivers are shown the light boards at several locations. Hamilton could be seen passing two screens with an ‘x’ displayed through Parabolica before entering the pit lane.

Mercedes also said that they had no way of seeing the boards from the pit wall, but Masi said teams are informed via their official information and separate timing screens.

“We also talk about all this at the drivers’ briefing,” said Masi, as quoted by Grandpx.news.

Asked about what happened when Hamilton went to the Stewards’ room, Masi replied: “I wasn’t there.

“But as far as I understand, when he saw the video, he agreed that the penalty was fair.”

The Australian was also fine with the fact that Hamilton went to the Stewards’ room in the first place, saying they operate an “open door policy”.

“There are no such restrictions, but fortunately, it’s not often that races have to be stopped with a red flag,” he said.

“But the stewards always adhere to an open door policy – if someone has questions, they can always ask them.”

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Speaking about his meeting with the stewards, Hamilton told Racefans.net: “It wasn’t to see Michael [Masi], it was to see the other stewards, who make the decisions with penalties.

“They just quickly showed me the onboard and those two signs that had an ‘X’ on it.

“I didn’t see them because I was looking elsewhere.

“But then there was not really much more for me to do so I just left and went back to get changed and that’s ultimately why I was a little bit late to the grid.”

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