Hamilton warned, Mercedes fined after 'serious failure'

Lewis Hamilton has been warned and Mercedes fined €15,000 after a dangerous near-miss with Logan Sargeant's Williams in FP2 for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The seven-time F1 champion was caught on the racing line whilst driving slowly at turn 10, attempting to get out of the way of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz when Sargeant arrived at speed during his qualifying simulation.

The American was forced to take evasive action and displayed immense control to not spear either into Hamilton or the wall on the outside of the circuit.

Having been placed under an investigation by the race stewards, the decision was taken to impose a penalty on Mercedes and not Hamilton.

The report read: "The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), the driver of Car 2(Logan Sargeant), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, team radio and in-car video evidence and determine that Car 44 impeded Car 2 at Turn 11.

"As a result, Car 2 had to take evasive action by going off the track to avoid a collision. Had that not been done, there would have been a serious, high speed crash.

"Having listened to the team radio, it was clear to us that the team of Car 44 failed to warn their driver of the fact that Car 2 was arriving on a fast lap.

"That was a serious failure on the part of the team, particularly given the speeds on this circuit and the nature of turn 11, which is at the end of a series of high speed corners where driver visibility is impaired.

"We therefore issue a warning to the driver and impose a fine of €15,000 to the team."