Lewis Hamilton's got company with the FIA stewards after Friday practice at the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver's been called in to explain an alleged impeding incident during second practice at Sepang, where he reportedly blocked Gabriel Bortoleto's flying lap at Turn 9. Bortoleto wasn't happy about it either, absolutely letting rip over team radio with some choice words about what the seven-time champion was doing.

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Here's where it gets interesting though. Hamilton's team told the stewards he had a legitimate excuse for the whole thing, reporting that his right mirror wasn't working properly during the session. He'd radioed his crew to keep him updated since he couldn't see what was coming behind him. It's the kind of situation that changes how the FIA looks at these incidents, especially in free practice where there's less at stake than qualifying or the race itself.

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The rulebook treats impeding offences pretty differently depending on when they happen. In free practice, since lap times don't count for anything officially, stewards usually hand out warnings or reprimands rather than heavy penalties. If it turns out the mirror was genuinely faulty and Hamilton did all he could to compensate by asking his team for help, he might walk away relatively unscathed. But if the FIA reckons Ferrari didn't do enough to inform him about the problem quickly enough, the team could face a financial penalty instead.

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So now the stewards have got to sift through the whole thing once FP2 wraps up at Sepang. They'll need to figure out whether Hamilton was genuinely unaware of Bortoleto's approach because of equipment failure, or if the seven-time champ just wasn't paying close enough attention. Either way, it's added another layer of drama to what's shaping up to be an eventful Malaysian weekend.

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