Hamilton escapes ban but Ferrari fined €10,000 after Bortoleto impeding scare in Bahrain GP practice

Lewis Hamilton avoided a grid penalty but was issued a formal warning by FIA stewards after impeding Audi rookie Gabriel Bortoleto at the entry to Turn 9 during second free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang on Friday. Ferrari were fined €10,000 for their role in the incident.

The near-miss occurred midway through FP2 when Hamilton, carrying damage to his right-hand side mirror, moved onto the racing line at slow speed as Bortoleto approached at a closing speed of more than 150km/h. The Brazilian was forced to veer out of the way, though stewards noted he remained in control throughout.

In their verdict, the stewards acknowledged Hamilton’s mirror was damaged and that he had received no radio warning from the Ferrari pit wall. They accepted that Ferrari’s standard practice is not to issue such alerts when an approaching car is not on a push lap, and that Bortoleto himself confirmed he had the situation under control. Despite those mitigating factors, the stewards concluded Hamilton had “unnecessarily impeded the significantly faster approaching car by moving onto the racing line at slow speed.”

The panel also considered whether the incident warranted a dangerous impeding classification, citing the high closing speed and the added responsibility on a driver who knows his mirror is compromised. They ultimately stopped short of that finding, pointing to Bortoleto’s ability to avoid contact as the deciding factor.

Ferrari’s fine stemmed directly from the team’s failure to warn Hamilton of traffic given the known mirror damage. “A driver, who is aware that one of his mirrors is damaged, should exercise additional care before moving onto the racing line,” the stewards wrote, underlining why the team bore additional responsibility.

On the timing screens, Friday ended on a more positive note for the Scuderia. Hamilton finished fifth in the later FP3 session, with team-mate Charles Leclerc topping the timesheet ahead of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and reigning world champion Lando Norris in the McLaren.

“Nothing really matters on Friday in terms of the leaderboard, but being fastest is no bad thing, so I guess at least an OK day,” Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said. He added that tyre degradation was expected to be a key variable across the Sepang weekend, with track evolution making Saturday’s picture difficult to predict.