Decision on Lewis Hamilton wearing jewellery delayed

Formula One bosses have backed down from a threat to discipline Lewis Hamilton over a nose stud he intends to wear at the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend.

The FIA, which governs the sport, had said at the Miami Grand Prix earlier this month that Hamilton would be punished — probably with a fine — if he continued to wear any jewellery while driving. Officials plan to issue the ban to all drivers on safety grounds.

However, the drivers met the president of the FIA medical commission at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona last weekend, and it was decided that further work was needed to determine whether removing all types of jewellery is necessary. Talks are continuing.

Niels Wittich, one of the race directors, said before last month’s Australian Grand Prix that he would be enforcing a longstanding rule that jewellery is not permitted within the cockpit.

Hamilton, the seven-times world champion, wears a lot of jewellery and was therefore considered to be the most significant target of the clampdown. In Miami he arrived at a press conference wearing three watches, eight rings, four necklaces, one bracelet and his usual nose and ear piercings.

Numerous conversations have followed since then between the new FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem and Hamilton’s team, Mercedes, and it was agreed that the 37-year-old would remove his earrings. His nose stud, which appears to be a small diamond, is not so easy to remove, with piercings of that kind often welded on one side to stop them falling out.

Asked if he had looked into getting it removed, and if he was happy with the direction of the conversations, Hamilton made it clear that he wanted to move on from the subject.

 “Honestly, I feel there’s way too much time and energy being given to this,” he said. “I’ve said everything I feel I need to say. I’ve taken the studs out every time I’ve been out in the car. I think we’ve all worn jewellery our whole careers in F1 and it’s never been a problem in the past and there’s no reason for it to necessarily be a problem now.”

Hamilton described the talks, which will also include the race directors, as “positive” but said that they were taking away the focus from more important issues within the sport.

 “It is positive we are working with them and they are accommodating a little bit at the moment but we shouldn’t have to keep on revisiting this thing every weekend,” he said. “We have definitely got bigger fish to fry.”

Hamilton is not alone in expressing his dismay at the FIA’s move to enforce the ban on jewellery. While wedding rings have been exempt, Kevin Magnussen, of Haas, said he would have worn his anyway and that it should be up to the driver to take responsibility.

“I’ll take a little bit of extra burn on my finger to race in my wedding ring,” the Danish driver said. “And if something was going to happen, something bad, I would want to wear my wedding ring. It kind of feels bad to take it off.

“With something like that, like your wedding ring, let us take that responsibility. There must be some way to remove liability.”