By DPA
Sao Paulo : World championship Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton escaped a personal penalty, but will have a set of tyres less at the season-ending Brazilian Formula One Grand prix for a rule violation during practice.
The ruling body FIA also fined Hamilton’s team Mclaren-Mercedes 15,000 euros ($29,395) for the offence, McLaren said.
The McLaren-Mercedes driver Hamilton used two sets of rain tyres during the wet morning session, while only one set of each specific tyre is allowed under FIA regulations.
Honda’s Jenson Button and Takuma Sato of Super Aguri did the same.
McLaren acknowledged that the incident happened but called it accidental. Team boss Ron Dennis and Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug insisted that the team did not gain an advantage from the error.
“Today has not been perfect for us, as we made a mistake in this morning’s session and used one set of tyres too many on Lewis’s car,” Dennis said. “This was unfortunate and clearly did not provide any advantage.”
The FIA verdict came after a hearing following the day’s second practice session, which Hamilton won.
Hamilton leads the championship into the season-ending race at Interlagos with 107 points. His McLaren team-mate, the two-time defending world champion Fernando Alonso, is second with 103 points and Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen has 100.
Hamilton was only recently cleared in another probe in connection with his driving, during a safety car phase at the Japanese Grand Prix.