Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Hamilton reprimanded after qualifying

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Lewis Hamilton has been reprimanded following qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix after he reversed in the pit lane.

After the defending champion had taken pole position, the stewards summoned Hamilton to explain his actions having reversed in the pit lane at the end of the session. The investigation could have seen Hamilton stripped of pole but the stewards said a lack of clarity over where he should have parked his Mercedes saw him only reprimanded as punishment.

"A reprimand has been imposed on the driver due to the fact that no clear instruction was given to the driver on where he should park the car after qualifying," the stewards decision read.

The incident was an infringement of Article 28.3 of the FIA Sporting Regulations, which states: "At no time may a car be reversed in the pit lane under its own power".

Following the decision, Hamilton will start from pole with team-mate Nico Rosberg alongside, with the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen making up row two.

REPORT: Hamilton pips Rosberg to Bahrain pole by 0.077s

AS IT HAPPENED: Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.