30 July 2023 , 11:22
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Lewis Hamilton was given an extra punishment on top of the penalty he received for tagging Sergio Perez in Saturday's Sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Brit collided with the Red Bull racer during the short form race while attempting an overtake. He took the position, but only after his front left wheel dug into the sidepod of his rival.
Perez began to lose positions, clearly affected by the hole left in the side of his car. And, after a trip through the gravel which dropped him well out of points condition, his team called him in to retire.
Hamilton was given a five-second penalty for causing that damage. But that was not the end of his punishment.
The stewards also saw fit to hand out two penalty points to the seven-time world champion. The good news for Hamilton is that his racing licence was previously clean, and so he remains some way off the threshold of 12 for a race ban.
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Only two drivers are halfway or further towards that punishment. Lance Stroll is the closest with seven to his name, while Daniel Ricciardo is on six in the last 12 months, despite having spent the first half of the season on the sidelines.
Lewis Hamilton received a time penalty and points on his licence for colliding with Sergio Perez (Hasan Bratic/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)Hamilton felt even the time penalty alone was a harsh penalty. "It was a racing incident, I think – I tried to go up the inside," the Mercedes racer said of the clash. And he went on to warn F1 chiefs against deterring drivers from attempting overtakes.
The Brit added: "It's tricky conditions out there, we are all trying our best. Of course, it wasn't intentional. I went for a gap, he was going slow through [Turn] 14, I went up the inside, more than half a car length up the inside.
"If you are not going for a gap, you are no longer racing, as Ayrton [Senna] once said. That's what I did. When I watched it back, it felt like a racing incident to me. We don't want to be deterred from racing."
Sky's Martin Brundle took his side, telling viewers: "I thought it was a racing incident and thought the penalty was harsh. 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.
"Yes, the car understeered a bit, but what is racing? If that's not racing and a racing incident then I don't know. It wasn't Lewis launching an impossible move, he was just on the inside at the corner.
"It did take Checo out of the race so we have to consider that as well and it was definitely the Mercedes sliding left rather than the Red Bull pinching him. So I understand what the stewards have done, but I would want to call that a racing incident."