Hamilton keeps British GP podium he was sure he'd lose

Ferrari Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton has kept his British Grand Prix podium after he was only reprimanded for a yellow-flag infringement.

Hamilton took third place on the road in the Silverstone race but anticipated a post-race penalty, saying he "went through a yellow flag" that he had not seen.

This was on lap 38 at Copse-Maggotts-Becketts, shortly after Nico Hulkenberg's Audi had come to a halt at the side of the track.

Hamilton - who served an in-race five-second penalty for a false start - had seen the FIA stewards by the time he spoke to media and left that hearing under the impression he would not be keeping his podium.

"I'm probably going to get a penalty right now as well," he told Sky Sports F1.

"I went through a yellow flag and I didn't see it. So it's another [penalty] - jump start, yellow flag. When it rains, it pours.

"I've just been to see them [the stewards]. I don't have an answer yet. But most likely I'll probably get something. I'll probably get a penalty, I'm sure."

But Hamilton was mistaken, with the stewards ultimately feeling a driving reprimand was sufficient.

This was because the stewards felt he had "very limited" time to react to the information denoting yellow flag conditions, and that there was sufficient mitigation in him being distracted by anticipating a counter-attack from Max Verstappen shortly after having overtaken him.

The stewards recounted: "HAM entered the relevant sector before any yellow flag or yellow light panel was displayed, with no such indication present before Turn 9 [Copse]. The first light panel encountered after Turn 9 was displaying green immediately before Turn 10 [Maggotts]. The yellow indication on the steering wheel display only appeared once the driver was already on the straight towards Turn 10 and close to the end of the yellow flag zone.

"The evidence showed that there was no yellow light panel warning within the driver’s immediate field of vision and that the yellow indication on the steering wheel display remained visible for only a very short period. The stewards were therefore satisfied that the time available for the driver to react to the yellow flag indication was very limited.

"The stewards also accept that, immediately prior to entering the sector, HAM had been involved in an overtaking manoeuvre with VER [Max Verstappen] and that the driver was expecting a counter attack. As a result, his attention remained directed to his mirrors for most of the straight towards Turn 10, rather than immediately towards the green light panel at the end of the sector.

"The stewards took this into account when considering whether the visibility of the green light panel should itself have made it clear to the driver that he was still within a yellow flag zone.

"The stewards nevertheless determine that, after the yellow had been displayed on the steering wheel display and the green light panel was illuminated immediately before Turn 10, HAM did not make a discernible reduction of speed and therefore did not fully comply with the requirements applicable under a single yellow flag.

"In determining the penalty, the stewards took into account that HAM had entered the sector before the yellow was shown, that the yellow indication reached the driver only when he was already near the end of the sector, that the time and distance available to react were very limited, and that the driver’s attention had, for understandable reasons, been occupied by the immediately preceding battle with another car."

Hamilton therefore remained third in the classification, gaining 15 points on championship leader Kimi Antonelli - who dropped out of the top 10 when a five-second penalty for track limits violations was applied to his time. An equivalent or bigger sanction for Hamilton would have dropped him out of the points, too.

Hamilton had been on course to finish second behind team-mate Charles Leclerc after Antonelli's late-race issue, but a safety car for Max Verstappen's off prompted Ferrari to pit him.

He came out behind former team-mate George Russell on much fresher tyres but never got the chance to reclaim second place as the race never properly restarted.

Hamilton said Ferrari "could have predicted that" but "did what we thought was right".