Martin Brundle believes Lewis Hamilton experienced one of the most complicated weekends of his season in Belgium. The British consultant thinks the Ferrari driver was satisfied with his fourth place.
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Lewis Hamilton went through a particularly eventful Belgian Grand Prix. Between his free practice crash, his penalty after his collision with George Russell and the pit lane incident with a mechanic, the Ferrari driver accumulated setbacks.
For Martin Brundle, this succession of events explains why the Briton probably welcomed his fourth place with an unusual feeling of relief.
“A terrible weekend”
In his column published after the Spa-Francorchamps race, Brundle reflected on the many adventures experienced by the seven-time world champion.
“Hamilton had a terrible weekend, between his crash in practice, his five-second penalty after his collision with Russell and almost running over one of his mechanics during his pit stop, through no fault of his own.”
The pit lane incident fortunately caused no injuries, but Ferrari was still handed a heavy fine.
Given these difficulties, Brundle believes Hamilton was probably content to finish just off the podium.
“Lewis was probably relieved to finish fourth, probably for the first time in his life.”
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A remark that illustrates how much the Briton had to deal with the circumstances throughout the weekend.
Brundle remains skeptical about the penalty
During the race broadcast, Martin Brundle had already considered the contact between Hamilton and George Russell to be a simple racing incident.
However, the stewards judged the Ferrari driver to be responsible for the collision and imposed a five-second penalty on him, reduced from the usual ten-second sanction thanks to several mitigating circumstances.
Brundle continues to believe this decision is debatable.
“Ferrari spoke of a racing incident, which may seem logical coming from the team, but most people I spoke with also shared this opinion.”
He nevertheless acknowledges that the stewards may have had additional information.
“With the information they had, they chose to impose a five-second penalty instead of the usual ten. It may have cost Lewis the podium, but that remains speculation.”
Despite this frustrating end to the weekend, Hamilton still allowed Ferrari to collect valuable points, confirming the good form shown by the Scuderia in recent races.
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