Hamilton escapes fine for wearing nose stud
LEWIS HAMILTON escaped a fine for wearing his nose stud in qualifying for today’s Singapore Grand Prix – but Mercedes were charged €25,000 for wrongly declaring the British driver would adhere to Formula One’s jewellery ban.
F1’s governing body, the FIA, has enforced a clampdown on piercings this season, and following a number of medical exemptions, Hamilton, 37, removed his nose stud for the 10th round at Silverstone in July.
But Hamilton was seen wearing it in practice and qualifying here and was summoned to see the stewards.
Hamilton (below) provided a doctor’s note, and explained he had been advised to wear the nose stud to stop an infection which came about when he removed it.
In the momnts after he qualified third for today’s round at the Marina Bay Circuit, the British driver said: ‘I am not trying to make a statement.
‘I have had my jewellery and my nose stud for years.
‘We had that huge commotion at the beginning of the year. At the time, it was soldered in, so it didn’t come loose.
‘For many races, the FIA gave me an exemption until I could find a solution.
‘I got it taken out and it got infected because of that.
‘I put this stud in, and then in the last two weeks it has started to heal and they asked that I keep it in.
‘I have got a letter from the doctor. I have tried my best. Hopefully they will be sensible. The stewards should be there to keep us safe and this is not a safety issue.
‘It is crazy that we have to talk about something so small. At this point, I don’t really care to be honest.’
SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX - Qualification: 1 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1min 49.412secs, 2 Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1:49.434, 3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:49.466, 4 Carlos Sainz Jr (Spa) Ferrari 1:49.583, 5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Alpine 1:49.966, 6 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:50.584, 7 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia AlphaTauri 1:51.211, 8 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:51.395, 9 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:51.573, 10 Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Scuderia AlphaTauri 1:51.983.