F1 driver Lewis Hamilton managed to avoid a penalty at the Singapore Grand Prix for wearing his nose stud after providing a medical exemption letter, explaining how his doctors advised against taking it out due to an infection.
However, Mercedes received €25,000 fine after it submitted a self-scrutineering form that said “that the driver complied with the requirement not to wear jewellery in the form of body piercing,” per the FIA.
The FIA has been cracking down on the jewelry ban, and earlier this season ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Hamilton had threatened to not compete if the ban was enforced. He was granted an exemption until the British Grand Prix because of a piercing that couldn’t be easily removed, and the Mercedes driver had since been taking the nose stud in and out.
However, he had the nose stud in on Saturday, and he had to see the stewards. But, Hamilton said wearing it was not a statement of sorts.
“I’ve had my jewelry and my nose stud for years and obviously we had that whole commotion at the beginning of the year,” Hamilton said. “At the time it was like soldered in, so it didn’t come loose. They gave me, at the time for many races, an exemption so I could find a solution. Then I went to get it taken out and tried to find a solution, putting it in and out.
“It got infected because of that, and I was just continuing on with this infection. I got a blood blister and had quite a sore on my nose. Then I went back and had to have the blood blister fixed, because there was puss and blood.
“I put this back in, and in the last two weeks, it’s started to heal and they’ve asked that I keep it in. It’s crazy that we’re having to talk about something so small. I take everything else out. At this point, I don’t really care to be honest.”
FIA Deputy Medical Delegate Dr. Ian Roberts looked at the medical report Hamilton had and agreed. The stewards didn’t take any further action with the driver “in light of the extenuating circumstances.”
