Lewis Hamilton points blame as British GP stewards decide on stripping podium | F1 | Sport

Lewis Hamilton expected to lose his British Grand Prix podium finish due to an investigation into a yellow flag infringement, only to later learn that he WILL keep P3 after all. Hamilton finished third as team-mate Charles Leclerc won at Silverstone for the first time while Mercedes’ George Russell snatched second place late on. But after the race finished under the Safety Car, Hamilton was at risk of leaving his home circuit without any points whatsoever because he anticipated a second penalty from the stewards.

Running in P2, Hamilton pitted under a late Safety Car after Max Verstappen spun out, with the Brit expecting that he could push Leclerc for the lead once the race resumed. But Russell refused to pit and inherited second, which he kept after the race controversially finished behind the Safety Car, denying Hamilton a chance to regain P2. That meant Russell finished on the Silverstone podium for the first time ever while Hamilton secured his 16th British Grand Prix podium but was subjected to a post-race investigation.

Speaking to Sky Sports after being summoned to the stewards, Hamilton – who was handed a five-second penalty for jumping the race start – admitted: “It’s [the ending is] all a bit of a blur to be honest. I don’t really remember. I was in P2 then we stopped and… yeah. You couldn’t have predicted that. We did what we thought was right.

“Congrats to Charles. Charles did a great job today. All the magic that I had on Friday just disappeared through the weekend. And I’m probably going to get a penalty right now as well so I’ll probably lose [the podium].

“The FIA often… have to react. I went through a yellow flag and I didn’t see it. So I jumped the start, yellow flag… yeah. When it rains it pours. I can’t confirm anything no.

“I’ve just been to see them [the stewards], that’s it. I’ve just been to see them, I don’t have an answer yet. Most likely I’ll probably get something. I’ll probably get a penalty I’m sure.”

Hamilton stormed to a brilliant sprint pole on Friday and pointed the blame at himself, and his engineers, for his failure to match that pace across the entire weekend at Silverstone.

He continued: “We’re just lacking front end and we massively under-egged it with the front wing. That’s my fault and the engineering fault.”

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The 39-year-old also earlier told Jenson Button before the podium ceremony: “Firstly I have to say a big, big congratulations to Charles. Winning this Grand Prix is a great experience and this is a great result for our team. Congratulations to our team.

“I just didn’t have it today. I jumped the start and already got a five-second penalty but Charles had the pace on me today. I struggled with the balance of the car. But I gave it everything I’m grateful to be up here.”

Asked if his team can take the title fight to Mercedes, Hamilton added: “It looks like it, I’m not really sure what happened to Kimi [Antonelli]. The team is doing a phenomenal job. We have some work to do still to really close the gap on pure performance but look at these results. Two wins for the team this year, it’s just fantastic.”

Explaining the strange ending to the race, which finished under a Safety Car despite a message indicating fans would get a one-lap shootout, the FIA said in a statement: “The Safety Car period regulation, Article B5. 13.5, states that one lap must be completed following the unlapping procedure.

“This process was followed by Race Operations. The ‘Safety Car In This Lap’ message was displayed erroneously due to a software error.”