Seven F1 drivers under investigation over Hamilton FP3 incident

Eight drivers have been summoned to see the stewards after a late incident involving Lewis Hamilton at the Parabolica during final practice for Formula 1’s Italian Grand Prix.

While Hamilton has only been called before the stewards ahead of qualifying at Monza, Romain Grosjean, Sergio Perez, Nicholas Latifi, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon and Lance Stroll are all under investigation.

The investigation concerns whether Grosjean, Perez and Latifi in particular drove unnecessarily slowly and caused a potentially dangerous situation.

Hamilton was forced to take evasive action while on a hot lap in the closing stages of final practice as he encountered a pack of slowing cars approaching the high-speed Parabolica.

Hamilton nearly ended up on the grass when Grosjean moved out to overtake Latifi’s Williams heading into the final corner, with Hamilton swerving to avoid the pair.

The six-times world champion escaped unscathed from the dramatic-looking incident but has already predicted that traffic will be a “nightmare” in qualifying.

Despite the drivers being told they will be required to observe a maximum lap time in order to ensure they do not drive unnecessarily slowly, traffic was still an issue in final practice.

McLaren's Lando Norris was also left unhappy after getting blocked by Charles Leclerc at the Parabolica while on a flying lap, asking over team radio: “Do they not know what blue flags are?” Leclerc waved his hand in an apologetic manner after the incident.

The FIA has enforced the procedure for final practice and qualifying in a bid to avoid a repeat of the farcical scenes in Q3 last year when drivers tripped over each other trying not to be the first in the slipstreaming queue, with many failing to set a lap time as a result.