Hamilton escapes penalty for wearing jewellery as Mercedes fined €25,000 for self-scrutineering form ‘error’

Lewis Hamilton has avoided a penalty for wearing his nose stud during Singapore Grand Prix qualifying after producing a medical exemption letter – although his Mercedes team were fined as they submitted a scrutineering form saying he wasn’t wearing any jewellery.

Hamilton, who finished a season’s best third in qualifying at Marina Bay, had previously removed jewellery when driving after a long-standing rule that it could not be worn during track sessions was clarified in Miami.

However, he was wearing his nose stud in Singapore, which triggered a visit to the stewards.

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The seven-time world champion told them doctors had advised him to leave the stud in, rather than continue to take it in and out, on medical grounds.

FIA Deputy Medical Delegate Dr Ian Roberts looked at the medical report and concurred with the opinion. As a result, the stewards decided to take no further action.

However, it soon emerged that Mercedes had submitted a self-scrutineering form declaring “that the driver complied with the requirement not to wear jewellery in the form of body piercing”. The stewards noted this was incorrect.

“The Team Manager explained that the team was unaware that Hamilton had a piercing,” read the stewards’ reasoning. “In recent events Hamilton had removed the piercing prior to the competition.

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“The team assumed, without enquiring of Hamilton, that he had followed or would follow the same procedure for this event.

“The Stewards accept that the error in the declaration in this case was not intentional or deliberate but it would not have occurred had the team made an enquiry of Hamilton before completing and submitting the declaration.

“Given these circumstances, we fine the team €25,000.”