Fred Vasseur Calls Lewis Hamilton Belgian GP Penalty Harsh

Formula 1, Sportrik Media - Fred Vasseur admitted he was surprised after Lewis Hamilton received a five-second time penalty for his opening-lap collision with George Russell at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton made contact with his former Mercedes team-mate as the pair fought towards Les Combes. The collision sent Russell spinning into the gravel and immediately ended his race, while Hamilton continued with damage to his Ferrari.

The stewards found Hamilton wholly responsible for the collision but issued only a five-second penalty after considering several mitigating circumstances. Hamilton was judged to have attempted to leave space and applied corrective steering when his car suffered understeer.

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Although the sanction was lighter than the standard 10-second penalty, Vasseur still considered it harsh. He pointed out that several opening-lap incidents during the season had previously been classified as racing incidents without punishment.

“Yes, because so far this season all the incidents on Lap 1 were considered racing incidents. On this one, Russell had enough space not to close to the right and to move left,” Vasseur said.

The Ferrari team principal acknowledged that the final decision belonged to the stewards. However, his comments reflected Ferrari’s concern over the consistency of the standards applied to first-lap collisions.

Hamilton served the penalty during his pit stop, but the stop then created another problem. He made contact with a mechanic while leaving the pit box after the green release light had been activated.

Ferrari was ultimately fined for the unsafe release, while Hamilton was cleared of fault. Vasseur explained that the confusion resulted from the double-stack situation and a front-wing adjustment instruction that was not communicated during the five-second penalty period to prevent mechanics from touching the car too early.

“We did not want to speak during the five seconds because the mechanics could have jumped on the car. It was not Lewis’ mistake,” Vasseur said, placing responsibility for the pit incident on the team’s procedures and internal communication.