The Ferrari F1 crew has criticized the penalty handed out to Lewis Hamilton on the Belgian Grand Prix, calling it “harsh”.
Hamilton was given a five-second time penalty after colliding with George Russell on the opening lap and forcing the Mercedes driver to retire on the gravel at Les Combes.
The seven-time world champion served a penalty throughout his solely pit cease and in the end overtook McLaren’s Oscar Piastri within the closing levels to complete fourth.
Nonetheless, Ferrari has made it clear that it doesn’t conform to the penalty.
Ferrari crew principal Fred Vasseur advised F1 TV after the race, “I believe it is slightly robust as a result of it is the primary lap, however we’ve not had (an analogous penalty) because the begin of the season.”
“In the event you have a look at Russell’s nook, he had house on the left. It is not like he was near the wall. For me, I believe it occurred in the course of the race.”
Hamilton additionally felt the penalty was disproportionate, regardless of the stewards explaining why they punished him.
“In the long run, it was a tough weekend,” Hamilton stated after the sport.
“I take full duty for yesterday’s accident (when he crashed in FP3). It had a ripple impact as a result of the set-up wasn’t proper and I used to be misplaced in qualifying. I believe if the set-up was proper I in all probability would have been fifth, third or second.”
“And that meant beginning even additional again and I used to be ready then the place George was clearly dropping energy, however then he simply swooped down on the surface and we type of got here collectively.
“I suffered injury, however within the race I did my finest to cope with the injury and obtained a penalty. I believe it was an incident in the course of the race, so I do not suppose there must be a penalty.”
Russell was despatched off in the beginning.
Hamilton revealed after the race that he deliberate to contact Russell, who thought of the collision a “racing incident” and thought no penalty was vital.
“I will textual content him later as a result of we will not see one another,” Hamilton added.
“Everyone rushes to work right here, and I knew the very last thing I needed was to be huddled up with my teammates and my outdated crew that I respect a lot.”
