Hamilton reprimanded and fined, McLaren defends decision
McLaren Mercedes F1 Team driver Lewis Hamilton was handed an official reprimand and a fine of $10,000 as he failed to return to the pits in the allocated time at the end of yesterday's qualifying session. The Canadian pole sitter climbed out of his cockpit and pushed his car back to the pits as he was instructed by his race engineer to stop on circuit as fuel levels were dangerously low.
As several people in the paddock were not amused that Hamilton only received a fine, Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren's Team Principal said: "We have complied with the regulations. We didn't set out to do this, and it is not Lewis' fault.
"A mistake was made, and we had a choice. We could have got back to the garage but having done so we would have been short of fuel for the sample, so we chose the decision that the regulations require us to provide the sample. We felt that was the dominant requirement rather than the FIA memo, which isn't a regulation and just talks about the lap time that comes back.
"There is nothing in the regulations that says you have to come back after qualifying to the garage If you break down, if the wheel had fallen off, then those things happen."
