Lewis Hamilton slapped with Belgian GP penalty for George Russell crash | F1 | Sport
It happened a turn five after Russell had lost ground heading down the long Kemmel Straight, as he struggled for power in his Mercedes. He lost out to Charles Leclerc who flew though to take second place and then fought hard to try to make sure that he could at least keep the other Ferrari behind.
But that led to him being spun off the track after he made contact with his former team-mate’s car. Hamilton protested over the radio to make it clear he thought he could have done nothing else to avoid the contact, while Martin Brundle agreed with him, describing it as a “racing incident” in commentary.
But the stewards did not agree and gave Hamilton a five-second time penalty for causing the collision. Speaking in the media pen while the race was ongoing, Russell made it clear he did not blame Hamilton. He said: “I just got totally swallowed up down the straight, I lost three positions down the straight, down into turn five and then the incident was a racing incident.
“Maybe I could have gone a bit wider, maybe he could’ve braked a bit more. The incident shouldn’t happened if I had the speed down the straight. Very, very disappointed.” Russell has spoken about the lack of pace on straights that he has been struggling with on his car and put the blame for the incident firmly on that problem.
He added: “I’ve got nothing to say, no words at the moment. I appreciate everyone is working hard to solve the problem but I’m stood here lap five of the race. I felt like I was in a good position to fight for the lead into turn one and then suddenly no power, and it’s all gone.”
In commentary on Sky Sports, David Croft noted the emotion that had been heard in Russell’s voice and observed: “He sounds quite tearful there.” And his co-commentator Brundle replied: “Yeah he’s upset. What’s he saying is ‘I should never have been in that position in the first place. Yeah whatever, me and Lewis tripped over each other.’
“He thought it was a racing incident. It’s almost like, ‘That’s irrelevant. I shouldn’t have been there. What’s going on with my car?’ He’s got his foot flat to the floor and it’s not accelerating. It seems extremely confusing all round doesn’t it?”
