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Whiting defends stewards decision to avoid giving penalty to Hamilton

Whiting defends stewards decision to avoid giving penalty to Hamilton

24-07-2018 14:21
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Lewis Hamilton managed to avoid a penalty for driving across the grass and the white line to the pit entrance at the German Grand Prix. Charlie Whiting has stepped in and backed his teams' decision to let the race winner go penalty free.

A lot of fans and former drivers were surprised to see Hamilton get away with it. Kimi Raikkonen didn’t get so lucky when he performed a similar stunt in Baku. In an interview on wtf1, Whiting explains why Raikkonen got a penalty and Hamilton didn’t. 

“Kimi a couple of years ago in Baku got a five-second penalty, you may remember. But that was quite a lot different, that particular scenario,” Whiting said. 

“I think [Raikkonen’s occasion] there were two cars close to each other at extremely high speed, so I think that’s what separates it from this one.” 

The Brit was deemed to rejoin the track in a safe way, under safety car conditions and the stewards took into account the miscommunication. What do you think? Was Hamilton a lucky man?