F1 pundit questions “harsh” decision behind handing Lewis Hamilton a penalty for collision with Sergio Perez

Martin Brundle has questioned the decision made by the stewards to hand Lewis Hamilton a penalty during the sprint.

F1 pundit questions “harsh” decision behind handing Lewis Hamilton a penalty for collision with Sergio Perez

Martin Brundle and Lewis Hamilton (Via Twitter)

The 2023 Belgian GP race weekend has gotten an interesting twist with Lewis Hamilton losing out on a good points finish in the sprint race. Ahead of the race weekend, Max Verstappen revealed that he will be taking a new gearbox leading to a 5 place grid penalty. Mercedes had decent pace all throughout the sessions leading to the Brit starting 3rd for sunday’s race. 

However, Spa is a sprint weekend so there was more in store for the 7 time F1 world champion. While Lewis Hamilton qualified 7th for the sprint, he seemed to fare well in the sprint shootout itself. All the trouble started unveiling during lap 6 of the sprint when the Mercedes driver slightly understeered into Sergio Perez whilst fighting for position. This in turn led to a big hole being left in the Mexican’s RB-19 leading to Lewis getting a 5 second time penalty. 

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The damage caused by Lewis Hamilton led to Sergio Perez having to retire from the race. Legendary F1 commentator Martin Brundle has gone on to give his take on the whole situation. “I thought it was a racing incident. I thought the penalty was harsh. I’ll stand by that,”he said. “Lewis had claimed the corner. There was an error in the corner before by Perez. [Hamilton] was on the inside. Yes, the car did understeer a little bit.” he continued.

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Related: Helmut Marko asks Sergio Perez to ‘forget the World Championship dream’ amidst uncertainty over the Mexican’s Red Bull future

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes won’t be protesting the penalty

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton (Via Instagram)

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff revealed that the team won’t be protesting the penalty as it was not worth the amount of points that would possibly be reinstated. Lewis Hamilton also described the incident while comparing his moves to that of Ayrton Senna. In the end, with Perez having to retire, Lewis was of the opinion that it was not an unfair decision. 

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished seventh and eighth respectively at the sprint shootout for the Belgian GP. This means that the team got 3 valuable points for their troubles. With the sprint race being on intermediate tyres, more tyre allocations will be available for the race. It will be interesting to see where the Mercedes duo finishes during Sunday’s main race. 

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