Lewis Hamilton keeps fourth in F1 Belgian GP as mechanic escapes unhurt

The mechanic hit by Lewis Hamilton during Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix pitstop escaped without injury, Ferrari confirmed, with the team fined 30,000 euro for an unsafe release.

Hamilton came in under a virtual safety car on lap 20 to serve his only pitstop as well as a five-second hold for his role in the first-lap contact with George Russell.

After changing the tyres, a mechanic attempted to make a late front wing flap adjustment. But unbeknownst to the mechanic, the Briton had already been given the green light by the controller to depart from his box, leading to the mechanic being struck by the right-front of the car and falling to the ground.
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Ferrari has since confirmed that the mechanic in question is doing perfectly fine and has not sustained any injuries, but Hamilton and the team still needed to visit the FIA race stewards for an alleged unsafe release.

The team has since been handed a 30,000 euro fine, 10,000 of which is suspended, with Hamilton keeping his fourth place in the result.

The FIA stewards’ verdict read: “The competitor (Scuderia Ferrari HP) is fined €30,000 of which €10,000 is suspended for 12 months on condition that the competitor does not commit a similar infringement in the meantime and on the further condition that within 14 days the competitor submits a report to the FIA regarding the incident and protocols introduced to mitigate the risk of such an incident occurring in the future.”

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

The stewards didn’t feel a sporting penalty was warranted because Hamilton immediately stopped and actually lost time because of the incident. However, given the safety nature of the incident they still felt a fine was warranted, as well as a commitment from Ferrari to review its pit crew communication and procedures.

“The team acknowledged that for Car 44 to have been released in these circumstances was unsafe and attributed the error to an inappropriately late instruction for the wing adjustment, a lack of clear communication and the mechanic’s failure to notice the green light. The team committed to undertaking a review of their pit stop procedures to ensure an incident such as this will not be repeated.”

Hamilton said the incident reminded him of Kimi Raikkonen injuring one of his mechanics at the 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix. “I’m looking at the lights, and I’m supposed to go when the car’s dropping, and I went, and then I saw him to my right, and I stopped,” he said. “All I could think at the time was back when Kimi did a leg. I’m just grateful that he didn’t get hurt.”
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