Stewards urge change to F1 trend in Mercedes-Hamilton summons verdict

Formula 1 stewards have taken no further action against Mercedes for a pit-lane infringement involving Lewis Hamilton at the Miami Grand Prix.

In sprint qualifying, during the second segment in which Hamilton was eliminated, Mercedes mechanics appeared to work on the car without their helmets on, in a breach of Article 34.13 of the sporting regulations - requiring the summons.

However, in their verdict, the stewards found that Mercedes was not the only team to have had pit-crew members working without their helmets and safety goggles on, "either within the pit-stop position of in close proximity" to it.

After this came to the stewards' attention, they found that jacking the car up and attaching blowers to cool the brakes without helmets or eye protection "appears to be the established practice" and could "strictly" be a breach of the rules.

Having taken this into account, the stewards felt that "penalising one team, where nearly all the teams may potentially have been in breach of this article in some form would not serve a useful purpose.

"We accordingly took no further action, however we request the FIA to consider whether changes need to be made to either the current practices during qualifying/sprint qualifying or the regulations themselves."