SINGAPORE – No further action has been taken against Lewis Hamilton for wearing a nail in his nose on qualifying day for the Singapore Grand Prix, although his Mercedes team was fined €25,000 for submitting a surveillance form claiming Hamilton’s father doesn’t wear jewelry.
Hamilton explained after qualifying that he had been wearing a stud on his nose because removing it in previous rounds had led to an infection and he was asked by doctors to keep it in place to prevent the infection from returning. again.
Management at the Singapore Grand Prix accepted Hamilton’s explanation, but still fined Mercedes for signing a form “declaring that the driver complied with a requirement not to wear jewelry in the form of body piercings. “. However, the managers noted that Mercedes was not aware Hamilton was wearing the nose nail as he had removed it on previous laps.
At the start of the season, the FIA clarified a long-standing rule in F1 regulation that states that drivers must remove jewelry before race sessions. The FIA’s race director, Niels Wittich, explained at the Miami Grand Prix in May that “metallic objects, such as jewelry, in contact with the skin can reduce heat transfer protection and therefore which may increase the risk of burns in the event of a fire”.
The jewelry ruling led to a rift between Hamilton and the Miami regulator as the seven-time world champion said he could not easily remove the nose studs to comply with the rule.
An exemption was granted that lasted until the British Grand Prix, when Hamilton finally removed the nail before the first practice session at Silverstone.
Hamilton explained that putting it in and out in later rounds led to infection.
“I’ve had jewelry and rhinoplasty for many years and obviously we had a commotion earlier this year,” Hamilton said. “At the time it was like soldered in, so it wasn’t loose. They gave me, at a time of many races, an immunity so I could figure out a solution. Then I went and got it. out and try to find a solution, put it in and out.
“It got infected because of that and I kept getting this infection. I had blood blisters and quite pain in my nose. Then I went back and had to fix the blood blister because there was pus and blood. .
“I put it back and in the last two weeks it started to heal and they asked me to keep it in there. It’s crazy that we have to talk about such a small thing. I remove everything else. At At this point, to be honest, I don’t really care.”
