Lewis Hamilton avoids punishment for wearing nose stud, Mercedes receives fine

SINGAPORE — No even further motion has been taken from Lewis Hamilton for wearing a nose stud throughout qualifying day for the Singapore Grand Prix, although his Mercedes crew has been fined €25,000 for distributing a scrutineering form that declared Hamilton was not sporting jewellery.

Hamilton defined just after qualifying that he was sporting his nose stud simply because taking away it at earlier rounds had led to an an infection and he had been explained to by medical professionals to preserve it in place to stay clear of the infection coming again.

The stewards at the Singapore Grand Prix accepted Hamilton’s clarification, but nevertheless fined Mercedes for signing off a form that “declared that the driver complied with the prerequisite not to use jewelry in the sort of physique piercing”. On the other hand, the stewards noted Mercedes was unaware Hamilton was wearing the nose stud as he had been removing it at past rounds.

At the commence of the year, the FIA clarified a very long-standing rule in F1’s restrictions that states drivers need to clear away jewelry ahead of keep track of classes. FIA race director Niels Wittich defined at the Miami Grand Prix in Might that “metallic objects, these types of as jewelry, in get hold of with the pores and skin can lessen heat transmission safety and consequently may possibly enhance the hazard of burn injuries in the event of a hearth”.

The jewellery ruling led to a stand-off in between Hamilton and the governing overall body in Miami as the seven-time world winner claimed he could not easily take away a nose stud to comply with the rule.

An exemption was granted that lasted until the British Grand Prix, when Hamilton ultimately eradicated the stud forward of the initial apply session at Silverstone.

Hamilton described that using it in and out at the following rounds experienced led to the an infection.

“I’ve had my jewelry and my nose stud for several years and of course we experienced that total commotion at the beginning of the year,” Hamilton mentioned. “At the time it was like soldered in, so it did not appear free. They gave me, at the time for a lot of races, an exemption so I could find a option. Then I went to get it taken out and tried using to find a solution, putting it in and out.

“It bought contaminated due to the fact of that and I was just continuing on with this an infection. I got a blood blister and had very a sore on my nose. Then I went again and experienced to have the blood blister mounted, mainly because there was puss and blood.

“I place this back in and in the last two weeks it truly is started out to heal and they’ve requested that I maintain it in. It truly is insane that we are having to chat about a thing so little. I just take all the things else out. At this stage, I don’t definitely care to be honest.”