Lewis Hamilton: Ferrari driver says 'heart sank' as his car hits mechanic in Belgian GP pit stop as teams fined by stewards

Lewis Hamilton says his “heart really sank” when his Ferrari car hit a mechanic during a pit stop in an incident which saw the team heavily fined by Belgian Grand Prix stewards.

Hamilton’s right front wheel hit the mechanic after the driver was given the green signal to leave the team’s pit box, briefly knocking the crew member – who was in front of the wheel trying to make a front wing adjustment – on his knees. Hamilton immediately stopped his car as the mechanic, who was uninjured, was helped to his feet.

The incident was placed under investigation by the stewards after the race and Ferrari was later fined €30,000, €10,000 of which is suspended for one year.

With no sporting penalty imposed on the driver, who stewards said had suffered a “sporting disadvantage” in any event due to the fact that he was delayed at the pit stop, Hamilton retained his fourth place in the race.

The result moved Hamilton back into second place ahead of George Russell in the Drivers’ Championship, 45 points adrift of Spa-Francorchamps race winner Kimi Antonelli.

Speaking about the post-race pit stop confusion, Hamilton said his mind immediately returned to an incident at the 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix when a botched Ferrari stop involving Kimi Raikkonen left a mechanic, Francesco Cigarini, with a double broken leg.

Hamilton was therefore relieved when he asked the mechanic over the team radio when he returned to the track that he was uninjured.

“The green light went and off I went,” Hamilton added Sky Sports F1.

“You look over here [to the left at the lights] you’re not looking over there, so it’s more likely on the team in the end.

“But when it happened, I noticed him and I stopped and it just went through my head, that moment was back when Kimi hit and broke a leg and my heart really sank for a second.

“I’m really thankful he’s okay.”

‘We could have been challenging for victory’ – Hamilton laments the consequence of his Saturday crash

Hamilton’s stop had already been extended by the fact that Ferrari’s crew had only had to wait five seconds before starting the car’s tire change due to the serving of a time penalty for causing a collision with Russell at Les Combes on the opening lap.

The collision spun Russell out of the race, although the Mercedes driver later blamed his own car’s straight-line speed problems, rather than former team-mate Hamilton, for the incident at the end of the long Kemmel Straight.

Hamilton also preferred not to focus on the details of the collision, instead taking the blame for failing to qualify higher than sixth, finishing fifth on the grid, after crashing in Saturday’s final practice session.

“I don’t count on myself [being] “Unfortunately, I think about my mistake that I made yesterday, so I take full responsibility for the fourth place that I ended up with,” he said.

“I damaged the car when they rebuilt the car, they were missing something on the suspension so the balance was completely different so that meant I was probably a good couple of tenths – maybe three tenths – slower than I should have been in qualifying.

“Then I ended up further back, got into the incident. Five second penalty, so like a domino effect from a mistake by myself.

“But the team has done a great job with strategy, pit stops. We continue to improve the car. I think our pace today, without the injuries, could have been challenging for the win.”

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