An incident between Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton during qualifying has earned the attention of the Japanese Grand Prix stewards.

An alleged blocking incident during Q2 has resulted in the FIA stewards calling upon Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton to visit them for a chat.

Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton off to the stewards

Hamilton was embarking upon a flying lap late in Q2 when he encountered a slow-moving Sainz through the first two corners, forcing the Ferrari driver to back off.

With the incident seemingly a slam-dunk case of impeding on Sainz’s part, the stewards have called upon both drivers to explain the incident and determine whether a punishment is warranted.

The summons was issued after qualifying, with both called after an “Alleged breach of Article 37.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations – Car 55 [Sainz] allegedly impeding Car 44 [Hamilton] in Turn 1 at 15:47.”

Article 37.5 reads, “Any driver taking part in any free practice session, the qualifying session or the sprint qualifying session who, in the opinion of the stewards, stops unnecessarily on the circuit or unnecessarily impedes another driver shall be subject to the penalties referred to in Article 37.4.”

The likely penalty for Sainz is a grid drop, which will see him slip back from his 13th-place qualifying position.

Developing story. More to follow…

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