New FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem has refused to rule out punishing Lewis Hamilton for boycotting its awards ceremony on Thursday.
Hamilton and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff did not attend in protest at the handling of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last Sunday.
Formula 1 rules dictate that the top three drivers in the championship must attend.
“If there is any breach, there is no forgiveness in this,” Ben Sulayem said.
Asked to clarify whether he was saying Hamilton would be penalised for not attending the gala, he said: “Forgiveness is always there. But rules are rules.
“I know Lewis is really sad about what happened. I would say he is broken. But we have to look into if there is any breach. [After] a few hours now as president, I cannot give answers without going back to the facts.”
Wolff said on Thursday that Hamilton was “disillusioned” after the events of Abu Dhabi and that he could not guarantee the seven-time champion would return to F1 next year.
The FIA has launched an inquiry into the events of Abu Dhabi, where race director Michael Masi appeared not to follow the organisation’s own rules when it came to the operation of a late safety-car period.
This resulted in the championship changing hands from Hamilton to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on the last lap of the race.
The FIA has admitted that the controversy surrounding the race was “tarnishing the image” of F1.
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