Lewis Hamilton hit with penalty for clash with Red Bull's Sergio Perez in F1 Belgian Grand Prix sprint race
The Mercedes driver went wheel-to-wheel with Perez, and their draꦜmatically collided while൩ side-on, on Saturday at Spa.
Perez was initially able to hꦍold off Hamilton, although h🦹e later lost his position.
Hamilton finished the sprint race fourth but the penalty meant he was relegated to 🍷P7.
"THEY TOUCH!"
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1)
It's all happening in the Sprint!
“That is harsh! They were si💯de by side," Sky's Martin Brundle reacted to the penalty.
"Lewis can’t just evaporate! He’s got to try and go through the corner! It wasn’t like h🍃e arrived late then slammed into the side of him.”
Hamilton did not enjoy an ideal Saturday at Spa, first becoming frustrating by an inc𒈔ident during the sprint shootout when he and teammate George Rus♍sell got in each other's way. That limited him to P7 on the starting grid for the sprint race.
But Hamilton battled into fourth, having co🐎ntroversially passed Perez, only for some of his hard work to be undone by the time penalty.
Perez, meanwhile, was one of two drive♚rs who did noಌt finish.
After Hamilton passed him, his car su🦹ffered sidepod damage and he was overtaken by both F🐻errari drivers then ended up in the gravel as Lando Norris zipped by. He rejoined in 16th but didn't finish.
James was a sports journal𝕴ist at Sꦛky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
