Ferrari was fined by the FIA (International Automobile Federation) after the incident involving Lewis Hamilton and a mechanic during the Belgian GP on Sunday (19), at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit.
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The incident happened during a double pit stop by Ferrari. As soon as the green light was activated, Hamilton left the pits and ended up hitting a mechanic who was still making an adjustment to the front wing. The driver stopped immediately, but the professional had already been knocked down. Despite the scare, no one was injured.
After the race, Hamilton celebrated the fact that the mechanic was not hurt: “Oh God, I’m just grateful the mechanic wasn’t hurt,” said the seven-time world champion.
Explaining what happened, the seven-time champion said he was focused on the pit lights and recalled Kimi Raikkonen’s accident at the 2018 Bahrain GP, when mechanic Francesco Cigarini suffered a double leg fracture: “Well, I mean, I’m looking at the lights and the car. I should go when the light goes out, and I did, and then I saw him to my right, and I stopped as soon as I could,” Hamilton continued.
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“Fortunately, all I could think at the time was when Kimi [Raikkonen] broke someone’s leg, and I was like, ‘Ah’. That was my initial thought, but he got up and walked away,” he concluded.
Hamilton was at risk of receiving another penalty, as he had already served a five-second penalty for causing the collision that took George Russell out of the race. However, the FIA held only Ferrari responsible for the unsafe release in the pits.
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