Lewis Hamilton reportedly had a steward fighting his corner at the Belgian Grand Prix. An incident involving Red Bull star Sergio Perez during Saturday’s sprint race saw the Brit slapped with two penalties, although not everyone agreed that the punishments were justified.
Hamilton and Perez came together during the fast and furious sprint around Spa-Francorchamps. The Mercedes ace squeezed past, but only after making contact with the Mexican’s sidepod, causing damage to his F1 rival.
It went from bad to worse for Perez as the incident ultimately saw him called into the pits to retire the car. Hamilton was given a five-second penalty, dropping him down to P7 by the end of the race, while he was also handed two penalty points.
“As Ayrton [Senna] said, if you no longer go for a gap that exists, then you are no longer a racing driver,” Hamilton ranted afterwards.
“That is what I did. And when I watched it back it feels like a racing incident to me. The conditions were tricky out there. We are doing our best and it wasn’t intentional. He was slow and I went up the inside and I was more than half-a-car length alongside.”
It appeared that Hamilton at least had some backing among the stewards. Although they dished out the seven-time world champion’s punishment, one in particular is believed to have begged his colleagues to notch the collision down as a racing incident.
“I’ll stand by that, having now watched and analysed it again. Lewis had claimed the corner, there was an error before the corner by Perez and he was on the inside.”
Hamilton regrouped before Sunday’s Grand Prix and played his part in a respectable day for Mercedes. The 38-year-old fell just short of the podium with a P4 finish, while team-mate George Russell took the chequered flag in sixth.