‘Daniel did it to me a few years ago’: Norris defends Hamilton after FIA investigation

Sir Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris were cleared of any wrongdoing following a post-qualifying investigation at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for driving too slowly

Following a chaotic qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, both Lando Norris and Sir Lewis Hamilton were cleared of any wrongdoing after the pair were investigated by the FIA for driving slowly.

With just over two minutes remaining in Q1, Lance Stroll brought out a late red flag after crashing at Turn 2.

This resulted in a fifteen car dash in the final two minutes of Q1, as many of the drivers attempted to avoid the drop.

Hamilton and Norris were summoned to the race stewards, for being deemed to have breached the rules in regards to driving too slowly.

Both walked away without a penalty, however, Norris was disappointed that they were summoned in the first place.

Prior to their final timed lap, Hamilton was hoping Norris would pass him so that the Mercedes F1 driver could receive a slipstream.

Norris failed to pass the seven-time World Champion, after wanting a slipstream himself.

Hamilton was equally surprised to have been called up by the race stewards, after believing he followed the FIA guidelines.

READ: ‘Lewis has fallen off’: Hamilton mocked after needing help from Russell

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Norris actually defended Hamilton’s actions in Q1, after believing that there was other more dangerous situations in the closing minutes of the first part of qualifying.

“It wasn’t unnecessary, it was necessary,” he said.

“He wanted a slipstream, I wanted a slipstream. And I didn’t want to pass him because of it. So he did nothing wrong, it’s racing. It was like second gear or something.

“Daniel did it to me a few years ago. Everyone knows it happens here at times.

“I don’t feel he did anything wrong. I probably would have done the same thing if I was in his boat.”

The final minute of Q1 looked more like a race than a qualifying session, drivers overtook each other down the main straight to gain as good a tow as possible.

Norris labelled this as a “lot worse” than what occurred between himself and Hamilton.

“I think what’s a lot worse and more dangerous is when everyone goes out the pits at the end of Q1, and it’s just a free for all,” he said.

“And you have people racing across the start/finish line.

“That’s more dangerous, because people actually take risks in doing things whereas when it’s like me and Lewis, Daniel was just a little bit behind and obviously Daniel didn’t want to go past either.

“But I don’t think anything’s fair game. I think just what he did was completely within reason, he was on the side, he wanted to let me past I didn’t want to go past, there was no one around us on push laps. So yeah, there’s no reason for anything to happen.”