Grosjean hits out over decision not to penalise Hamilton

Romain Grosjean was left feeling surprised and annoyed after losing a place in Formula 1 qualifying for the British Grand Prix following an alleged block by Lewis Hamilton that went unpunished by the FIA.

Grosjean appeared to lose time after coming across Hamilton in the final sector at Silverstone during his first Q3 run, with the Haas team putting it down as 0.35 seconds.

The FIA confirmed after the session that it would be investigating the block, putting Hamilton's pole position at risk, only for the stewards to opt against handing out a sanction.

The stewards said that while Grosjean may have been affected by Hamilton, he was not impeded, reasoning the decision to not give out a penalty.

When asked if he was surprised by the decision, Grosjean said: "Yes. Surprised by the wording. 'Driver behind has not been impeded'. If losing 0.3 to 0.4s in one corner is not being impeded I'm very surprised.

"I think it opens room for mess in qualifying and the rules is pretty clear. I know that there is a world title going on at the front but we are in a position where we actually fight as hard as the boys at the front and I was impeded today.

"Maybe if it was another driver the sanction would have been something and it does feel sometimes like there are two types of decisions."

Grosjean suggested that the fear of impacting the title race may have played a decision in the lack of penalty, with Hamilton fighting against Sebastian Vettel at the top of the championship standings.

"I think the title race is an important one but again we are fighting as hard as those boys," Grosjean said.

"We've put a lot of work in and yes I lost 0.35s in two corners. If next time I have to get my front wing in his rear diffuser to show that I have been impeded...

"We've got very clear rules in qualifying and with ten cars in track in Q3 we should not have those problems."