Stewards hand Franco Colapinto a warning, as no further action is taken against Liam Lawson, Alex Albon or Lewis Hamilton.

Colapinto was weaving across the track warming tyres on the straight between turns 14 and 15 when Max Verstappen approached at high speed. Team radio confirmed that the Argentine had received progressive warnings from the team that the Red Bull was behind and closing.

When Verstappen arrived, Colapinto stopped weaving but remained on the racing line and then accelerated but the closing speed of the two cars was such that the four-time world champion had to abandon his push lap.

Colapinto acknowledged that he had impeded Verstappen. He said that he had misjudged the closing speed and accelerated to attempt to prevent the impeding but had insufficient energy to do so. Verstappen said that he expected the alpine to move to the left and when he saw that wasn't happening, he abandoned his lap.

The stewards determined that Colapinto unnecessarily impeded Car 3 and impose the usual penalty for such an infringement in a free practice session of a warning.

In FP1, Carlos Sainz passed Liam Lawson after turn 9 and then slowed considerably through turns 10 and 11 with the New Zealander close behind. It appeared from the video that the Williams driver had unnecessarily slowed to baulk Lawson after Sainz had been affected by the kiwi at turn 9, gone wide and then abandoned his push lap. However, Sainz explained that he had slowed because he had received a message from his team that another car, Jak Crawford, was approaching from behind on a push lap and Sainz was slowing only to ensure that he did not impede the Aston Martin.

Sainz's account was confirmed by the team radio and Crawford passed both the Williams and RB after the exit of turn 11. The stewards therefore determined to take no further action.

In another incident in the opening session, Sergio Perez explained that he was on a race-run lap and was about to commence another. He had seen Alex Albon some distance behind when he had exited Turn 14.

Albon was on an out lap and gained significantly on Perez through Turn 15 and on the approach to Turn 16. The Williams driver moved to overtake Perez on the inside at Turn 16 and a collision occurred.

The Mexican said that he did not see Albon, his virtual mirror was not working and he had not received any warning from his team of the Williams approach. This was confirmed by his team radio.

Cadillac explained that they had assumed that Albon would hold position and had not noticed the extent to which the Williams driver had gained on Perez and for that reason did not warn the Mexican.

Albon said that he believed from the wide line taken by Perez at the entry to Turn 16 that Perez was letting him through. Both drivers were surprised by the closing speeds. The collision was therefore the result of a misunderstanding contributed to by a lack of communication by the American team to its driver. Both Drivers accepted that neither of them was wholly or predominantly to blame, the stewards therefore determined to take no further action.

Finally, the stewards found that Lewis Hamilton, who had been given no warning from his team of the approach of Max Verstappen), was travelling in the middle of the track between Turn 14 and Turn 15. As the Dutchman closed on the Ferrari, Hamilton made an initial movement suggesting a move to the left, but ultimately remained to the right-hand side of the track.

Verstappen approached with a significant speed differential but was able to pass the Briton without being required to brake, lift, or deviate from his intended racing line.

In this case, the stewards were satisfied that, although Verstappen was momentarily influenced by the positioning of the Ferrari, he was not forced to take evasive action. The stewards also took into account that, through his team representative, the Verstappen said that the situation was not considered dangerous from his perspective.

Consistent with the position taken with respect to incidents of this type in free practice sessions where an alleged impeding is not considered dangerous or potentially so, the stewards once again determined to take no further action.

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