Lewis Hamilton wrote a personal letter to the head of Formula One’s governing body to escape a possible race ban for his Monaco Grand Prix outburst against stewards and rivals.
The Times newspaper on Thursday quoted International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Jean Todt as saying the McLaren driver could have faced a heavy punishment for his comments after the May 29 race.
“It is unacceptable. I didn’t want to over-react,” the Frenchman said. “I could have asked the judicial court to address the problem but we never officially opened the case and he went with his father to the stewards to apologize.”
“He wrote to me and it was between him and the FIA.
“Maybe it would have been a better decision to send him to the judicial court and ban him for six grands prix or something,” added Todt. “But for me this thing is over.” London Free Press
The 2008 champion criticized stewards and fellow drivers after the action-packed race on May 29. In a reference to comic character Ali G, he also questioned jokingly whether he received two drive-through penalties during that grand prix because he was black. eTaiwan News
Hamilton was given penalties after colliding with Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado as he attempted to pass them on the narrow Monaco circuit.
The British driver called his two rivals “ridiculous” and also criticized stewards after the race for imposing the penalties.
He immediately made peace with the stewards and apologized to Massa and Maldonado through a post on Twitter two days after the race. The Canadian Press
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