Hamilton-FIA, here we go again
For the second consecutive race, Lewis Hamilton receives a five-second penalty and then has to wait for the stewards’ decision on another, subsequent, investigation at the end of the race. If at Silverstone it was the jump start and then the failure to respect a yellow flag that made the Sunday difficult for the seven-time world champion, at Spa the reasons for investigation change but not the outcome: on one side there are the five seconds of penalty served in the pits after the contact at the start with George Russell, on the other the FIA stewards’ investigation for the restart from the hectic pit stop that saw an unlucky mechanic momentarily hit by the SF-26 number 44.
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Frederic Vasseur’s comment
Speaking at the end of the race to Sky, team principal Frederic Vasseur is not so convinced that the 41-year-old Englishman deserved a penalty for the contact on the first lap with his Mercedes compatriot: “The penalty? It was definitely harsh, because there were a couple of incidents on the first lap that were considered as first lap incidents. I think Russell was already moving a bit (towards Hamilton, ed) so the contact was inevitable. But I really don’t want to comment on the decision, it went as it went”.
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“The penalty is harsh – then adds the Ferrari team boss when asked to further clarify his thoughts regarding the Race Direction’s decision – because it was the first lap and Russell still had space inside and was still closing on Lewis, but it’s not my decision as you can imagine. As for the second situation (the investigation for the unsafe release after the tire change, ed) it was a team error, because Hamilton had the green light from the traffic light and restarted. This means he was absolutely not at fault, his position was correct and it was the team that made a mistake”.
