PlanetF1

Schumi fined; Lewis and co cleared

Friday 07-October-2011 12:34

Michael Schumacher has been slapped with a €5 000 fine for a late entry into the pits in Japan while Lewis Hamilton and three other drivers were cleared of ignoring yellow flags.

Seven-time World Champion Schumacher was summoned to appear before the Suzuka stewards at the conclusion of second practice after going on the wrong side of a bollard when he made a late pit entry.

Although it is in breach of the sporting regulations, the stewards decided to hit him with a monetary penalty as the incident took place during practice.

Hamilton, Sebastian Buemi, Heikki Kovalainen and Bruno Senna also appeared before the stewards post-FP2 for yellow flag infringements during second practice.

HRT driver Tonio Liuzzi lost his way at the Spoon Curve and his car came to halt close not long after, forcing marshals to bring out the yellow flags. The quartet though still managed to set their best sector times.

However, the stewards took no further action after data showed that all four drivers had slowed down for the incident.

"After P2, the stewards were looking at my data after Liuzzi parked his car at the exit of Turn 14 - but I did a slower sector time and didn't use DRS or KERS, so it should be okay," Hamilton said before the hearing.

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