Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel will face the stewards before FP2 after both drivers were pulled up for breaching the sporting regulations. Hamilton was asked to meet with the race stewards at 2.30pm (1.30pm local time) with Vettel summoned 10 minutes later.
Both drivers were called up for impeding other drivers in a hectic FP1 at Zandvoort. Hamilton allegedly blocked Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari during the opening part of first practice.
The FIA report read: “Alleged breach of Article 37.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations – Car 44 unnecessarily impeding car 55 in turns 12-13 at 13:18.” The incident was caught on camera with Hamilton sweeping into the right-hander just as Sainz was moving into the corner.
The Spaniard was forced to brake to avoid contact with the Mercedes star and vented his anger on team radio moments later. Sainz said: “What he just did is very dangerous.”
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Meanwhile, Vettel will be spoken to for impeding Lando Norris at the same sequence of corners later on in the session. The report read: “Alleged breach of Article 37.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations – Car 5 unnecessarily impeding car 4 in turns 12-13 at 13:28.”
The pair almost made contact in turn 11 before the Aston Martin star squeezed Norris at turn 13 as the McLaren star dived up the inside. Norris also took to team radio to show his dissatisfaction with the four-time world champion. He said: “Is this guy silly, or?”
Hamilton was quick enough for P2 in first practice, just behind his Mercedes team-mate George Russell in an optimistic display for the Silver Arrows. The seven-time champion finished second to Max Verstappen in last season’s race after an epic duel between the pair.
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However, it was a difficult morning for the Red Bull star who broke down with mechanical failure just 10 minutes into the session. The Dutchman confirmed the issue was a gearbox fault but he is not expected to be hit with any penalties.
Vettel was 15th fastest in FP1, two-tenths slower than team-mate Lance Stroll. Ahead of the weekend, Hamilton claimed he and Mercedes were already looking ahead to designing next year’s car.
He said: “There’s bits of [the car] that are good. There is performance in there, it’s just whether or not you can utilise that performance. You want a car that works on every single track you go to. The Red Bull generally seems to work in the majority of places.
“It’s understanding why and somehow working into next year’s car whatever that aero characteristic balance is to make sure the car works everywhere. There’s loads of bits on this car we would change, that I would change as well and the team would change and that’s what we are going to try to do for next year’s car.”
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