Ferrari fined over mechanic incident as Hamilton rues penalty, damage

Lewis Hamilton disagreed with the penalty he received for contact with George Russell during the Belgian Grand Prix, but avoided further sanction as Ferrari has been fined for an incident that invovled a mechanic being hit in the pit lane.

Russell tried to overtake Hamilton around the outside into Les Combes on the opening lap at Spa-Francorchamps when Hamilton corrected a snap of oversteer that pitched the Mercedes into a spin and out of the race. The stewards handed out a five-second time penalty – reduced from the usual 10 for causing a collision, as they deemed the first lap to be a mitigating circumstance – but Hamilton says he was then hampered by his own car damage.

“Just ultimately a difficult weekend,” Hamilton said. “I take on responsibility for my incident yesterday, which then had a knock-on effect with the setup not being right, and then out of place in qualifying. Because I think with the setup right I think we could have been fighting for second or third, and then that meant starting further back.

“And then I was in a position where George, obviously... it looked like he lost power, and then he swooped around the outside, and just had a small coming together.

“I got damage, and really unfortunate to see his race come to an end, because you never want to see that. And then in the race, I did the best job I could with the damage that I had, and then also the penalty.

“I think it was a racing incident, so obviously, I didn't think that it should be a penalty, but it is what it is.”

Hamilton served his time penalty during a pit stop that he took directly behind teammate Charles Leclerc, but after being released he struck a mechanic who had moved late to adjust his front wing. Ferrari has been fined nearly $35,000 for the incident after an investigation from the stewards, but there was no additional sporting penalty.

“Damage overall, I think we lost a massive amount of downforce. I don't know what the numbers are, but it's the left of the floor, front of the floor was gone," Hamilton said. "And then in the last stint, we didn't get to put the front wing in, because in the double stack, oh my god, I'm just grateful that he didn't get hurt, my mechanic.

“I'm looking at the lights, and the car, I'm supposed to go when the car's dropping, and I went, and then I saw him to my right, and I stopped as soon as I could. All I could think at the time was back when Kimi [Raikkonen] did a leg – that’s what I thought initially, but he got up and moved.”