Lewis Hamilton runs over Ferrari mechanic but avoids second Belgian GP punishment

Lewis Hamilton escaped a penalty despite a post-race investigation for hitting his own Ferrari mechanic while pitting in a chaotic Belgian Grand Prix. As he came in to change tyres, Hamilton had to serve a five-second penalty for colliding with his former team-mate George Russell on the opening lap at Spa, an incident which ended Russell's race. Though the Mercedes driver felt it was a racing incident, the stewards still slapped Hamilton with a penalty.

The Brit seemed to be facing further punishment after the race but although an unsafe release was confirmed by the stewards, he escaped a second penalty. Hamilton accidentally ran over one of his mechanics as he pulled out of the pitbox. He had been given the green light by the Scuderia to leave the pits and naturally made for the exit as quickly as possible. But as Hamilton raced away, the 39-year-old sent one of his team - who had stepped in front of the SF-26 - tumbling. Hamilton very quickly came on to the team radio to check that the mechanic, who was trying to adjust the front wing with a spanner, was alright.

"S***, is he OK?" the seven-time world champion asked, with his race engineer Carlo Santi replying about the pit crew: "He's OK, we're all OK."

F1 guidelines suggested that Hamilton would be handed a five-second or 10-second penalty for the incident. The stewards later confirmed Ferrari were fined £25,500, of which £8,500, is suspended for 12 months but that Hamilton would not be penalised. They said: "The tyre change was completed, the jack-man dropped the F1 car and the super controller activated the green light signal for Car 44 to move off.

"Just as the driver moved off, another mechanic with a front wing tool moved forward into the path of the front right tyre. Before he stepped forward he had his head down looking at the tool and did not see the green light.

"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 repeat. The stewards determined that the driver was in no respect at fault."

That meant the only damage done from the pitstop was the fact the front wing was not properly fitted. After having the bad news confirmed from his team, Hamilton replied: "****, yeah. I can't turn the car, so..." He later told Sky Sports: "That's more probably on the team ultimately. When it happened, then I noticed him and stopped.

"What went through my mind then was Kimi [Raikkonen] and the broken leg [a Ferrari mechanic suffered in 2018], my heart really sank for a second. I'm really grateful he's OK."

Despite racing without optimal front wing settings, Hamilton crossed the line at Spa-Francorchamps in P4. Earlier in the race, Hamilton was spared blame by Russell after the 28-year-old title hopeful crashed out on the opening lap and ended up beached in the gravel at Turn Five.

A miserable Russell said: "I've got nothing to say, no words at the moment. 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 have happened if I had the speed down the straight. Very, very disappointed."

The stewards explained that they felt Hamilton was "wholly at fault for the collision" with Russell but recognised some mitigating circumstances, such as the fact the veteran "attempted to leave appropriate racing room and made a genuine attempt to avoid contact."

They acknowledged that, because it was the opening lap, Hamilton was working with "reduced grip and compressed racing conditions." That saw the penalty downgraded from the standard 10 seconds to just five.

Kimi Antonelli secured his third successive race victory in Belgium, and his seventh win in 2026, from Hamilton's Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Max Verstappen completed the podium in his Red Bull. It is just his third podium finish in 10 races this season.

Victory for Antonelli and Russell's DNF due to his first-lap crash means the championship leader extends his lead over his team-mate to 50 points with just one race to go, in Hungary next weekend, before the month-long summer break.

Hamilton leapfrogs Russell into second in the standings and is 45 behind Antonelli with 12 races remaining.