Lewis Hamilton looks back on his recent series of penalties during the past three Grands Prix. The seven-time world champion has been heavily penalized four times since his home race at Silverstone, causing him to miss out on valuable championship points in his chase for championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Hamilton spoke with the stewards about his penalties: ‘We talked about the fact that the stewards are not consistent here’.
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Lewis Hamilton has been unlucky with penalties lately. The seven-time world champion received three five-second time penalties and a three-place grid penalty during the past three Grands Prix. During the British GP, the home hero was penalized for a false start. One race weekend later, he received a time penalty for the collision with George Russell during the opening lap.
In Hungary, Hamilton was penalized again with a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane. However, the heaviest penalty came during qualifying for the same Hungarian GP, when he hindered Oscar Piastri during his fast lap.
‘Not consistent’
“The last two races (prior to the Hungarian GP, ed.) have gone pretty badly for me,” Hamilton told the media. “Silverstone was my fault. During the drivers’ briefing, we did talk about the fact that they (the stewards, ed.) are not consistent in this. In the past, there have been drivers who moved (before the start, ed.) and were not penalized. We discussed with them that as long as you don’t move the car when the lights are on, you shouldn’t be penalized. I wasn’t even out of my grid box yet, and they agreed with that.”
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Hamilton then analyzes his collision with Russell during the Belgian GP. “In Spa, even the driver I collided with said it was just a racing incident,” said the world champion. “Still, they imposed a penalty that wasn’t necessary, and that cost me a lot of points.”
Hamilton does take some responsibility for hindering Piastri during qualifying for the Hungarian GP. “Hindering Oscar was just very unfortunate,” the Ferrari driver admits honestly. “Ultimately, I take responsibility; I should have checked my mirrors, but I thought everyone would be at the end of the first lap, and there was a communication error.”
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