Lewis Hamilton faced a significant setback when a five-second penalty was imposed on him. The incident occurred during a riveting duel with Sergio Perez, the skilled driver representing Red Bull, as they fiercely vied for the coveted P4 position.
Merely inches apart, the Mercedes star brushed the side of Perez’s car as they navigated through turn 16, resulting in the penalty being swiftly administered by the race officials.
Following the intense collision with Lewis Hamilton during the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race, Sergio Perez experienced a swift drop in position on the track.
In the aftermath of the incident, he lost ground, conceding positions to both Ferrari drivers before eventually spinning off at turn 15 on the subsequent lap.
Acknowledging potential damage from the accident, the Red Bull mechanics promptly decided to retire Perez’s car from the race.
Prior to Hamilton receiving the penalty, Brundle made a suggestion that race organizers refrain from imposing sanctions on either driver involved in the incident.
“There’s nothing to look at really there. You have to call that a racing incident surely.”
Brundle expressed a differing viewpoint from the race stewards as he stood in support of Hamilton’s actions.
“I thought it was a racing incident. I thought the penalty was harsh. I’ll stand by that.
“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.
“What is racing? If that’s not racing, and therefore a racing incident, then I don’t know. It wasn’t Lewis launching an impossible move. He was on the inside of the corner.
“It did take Checo out of the race so we have to consider that. 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 because Lewis can’t disappear in that moment. He claimed the corner. What can he do?”
At the start of the race, Hamilton made a strategic move by being one of the first drivers to switch to intermediate tyres. This decision turned out to be advantageous for him.
As a result of the timely tyre change, the seven-time champion impressively climbed up to P5 in the standings, even though he initially began the sprint from a lower starting position of seventh place.
Arguably a Saturday to forget for the Silver Arrows with George Russell only managing to finish behind teammate Lewis Hamilton.
