Lewis Hamilton was at risk of losing his pole position, as the FIA announced that they were investigating the World Champion. However, he escaped the infraction without a penalty from the FIA.
The FIA had stated that the Mercedes driver was under investigation for reversing in the pit lane at the end of the third qualifying session. Doing so is a violation of Article 28.3 of the FIA Sporting Regulations, which makes it against the rules for a driver to use the reverse gear on the gearbox within the pitlane under any circumstances.
Hamilton was found to be in violation of the regulation, but the FIA decided not to issue a penalty. Instead, the FIA reprimanded the driver and allowed him to keep his pole position for the race. The race stewards said that they decided not to issue a penalty because Hamilton had not been advised where to park his car after the qualifying session had completed, causing confusion.
If the FIA had decided to penalize Hamilton, he could have started from the pitlane. This would have put him in the same position as Kevin Magnussen, who was penalized from a FP2 rule violation regarding the weighing of the car. Magnussen’s penalty was also caused by confusion, but the penalty was issue anyway.
