"Lewis always takes it ten metres later, but now it's 200 metres later"
F1 News
- GPblog.com
It was a strange situation on Sunday before the race. Lewis Hamilton made a test start on two occasions in a place that was not designated for that and was punished for it. Robert Doornbos takes another look at the images of the Mercedes driver.
Always a little further down the road
"In the regulations it is discussed on Thursdays where you can make a trial start. You do this at the end of the pit lane after the red lights on the right. What you don't want is for everyone to do it in the same place, because then there will be too much rubber and it won't be representative of what you have on the grid", explains Doornbos in his column on Ziggo Sport's YouTube channel.
It's not unusual for drivers to do those test starts a little further down the road, says Doornbos. "So Lewis always takes it ten or twenty metres later, but now he did it 200 metres later. All the way out of the pits, an unusual spot and was punished for that. Is it right or is it wrong?"
Hamilton is punishing himself
Doornbos tells us that they have looked in the rulebook and that there is always a suitable place to test start. The biggest penalty is that Hamilton had no chance of winning because of this. "It seems it hasn't been announced this weekend. Although everyone at that spot did a test start. In the end it will cost him the victory in the Russian Grand Prix."