Lewis Hamilton disqualification debate settled after Alonso unleashes fury in Singapore

Lewis Hamilton received a five-second time penalty for multiple track limit violations at the Singapore Grand Prix, as he defended from Fernando Alonso with failing brakes.

Dropped to eighth behind Alonso by the penalty, the Aston Martin driver was left incensed over team radio with Hamilton’s actions. Sky F1 presenter Simon Lazenby posed the question of whether Hamilton deserved a disqualification, and while Jamie Chadwick thought that stage was not quite reached, she believes Hamilton got off lightly with his punishment.

Lewis Hamilton corner cutting ‘worth more than five seconds’

Having been eyeing up Kimi Antonelli’s fifth place, Ferrari went into full defensive mode for the closing stages of the Singapore Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc had been battling braking issues for much of the race, which extended to Hamilton’s SF-25 and dropped him into the clutches of Alonso.

Missing a plethora of braking zones as he attempted to stay ahead, Alonso went on a team radio tirade after Hamilton crossed the line four-tenths ahead. His repeated use of “I can’t f***ing believe it”, had Hamilton poking fun via a subsequent Instagram post, considering the similarity to a trademark phrase from the ‘One Foot in the Grave’ sitcom.

Alonso had queried the safety of Hamilton continuing in the race with failing brakes. Sky’s ‘The F1 Show’ host Simon Lazenby asked the question of whether Hamilton should have been disqualified for his actions.

“But, did he have a point?” Lazenby pondered on Alonso’s radio rage. “Should Lewis, with no brakes, and driving in the way he had, had more than a five-second penalty?

“Should he have been black flagged for that? What do you think, Jamie?”

Chadwick, a Williams development driver, multi-time W Series champion and Sky F1 pundit, suggested that only if Hamilton had been shown the black and orange flag – ordering a driver to pit and rectify a car defect – but ignored it, would a disqualification have been in order.

Nonetheless, Chadwick does believe the FIA stewards were too lenient with Hamilton’s punishment.

“I don’t think… Well, he didn’t have no brakes. If he had no brakes, he would have been in a whole world of… I think Lewis shouldn’t have cut corners. Categorically, I think that’s probably worth more than a five-second penalty, because he probably gained more than five seconds with the corners he was cutting.

“If he could safely have bought it across the line, which I think he did, apart from the fact he was cutting the corners, I.e., not causing Fernando big issues, whatever, then that’s one thing.

“I think Fernando’s playing on the point that, you know, there’s certain other things that have to be in check to pass scrutineering, whether it’s a mirror, you get black and white, black and orange flagged. If those parts fail, then he should have been disqualified, and that should have been that.

“But I do find Lewis’s reaction to it quite funny, because even Fernando, in his age, he just is so… Even the way he was talking about Isack Hadjar and the racing, his radio messages, he doesn’t age at all in those senses. He’s like one of the young kids in that sense. So I like the excitement from Fernando. He’s still hungry, still wants it.

“But I mean, Lewis was a lost cause. He got the penalty in the end. Not his fault with the braking issue. He shouldn’t have cut the corners, and that was that, in my opinion.”

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As part of his team radio stand against Hamilton’s actions, Alonso also made note of how Hamilton had not been penalised over an FP3 red flag infringement.

Sky F1 pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz said it highlights how switched on Alonso is at all times.

He said: “Two things on this. First of all, they all need the points. It’s not that Aston Martin need the points – which Fernando got with Lewis’s five-second penalty – it’s not that Aston Martin need the points more than Ferrari. Ferrari need the points to be second in the Constructors’, a battle they’re currently losing to Mercedes.

“So, while I think Lewis would have been cool about Fernando getting the place back, given that Lewis is bound by these overheating breaks, the other thing, I think, is significant, is that in the middle of the Alonso rant on the radio, he remembered that Lewis got away with the speeding up under the red flag and coming in and the attack the pit lane message in qualifying [sic].

“He said, ‘Sometimes they disqualify me with no mirror.’ And then he says, ‘No respect for the red flag yesterday. Today, free track for them. Too much.’ So Alonso, in that radio message, is still remembering that he thinks that Lewis got away with not having a red flag infringement by speeding back up and going into the pits.

“So, switched on, never let it lie, and wanting to advance himself. But that’s why he’s Fernando Alonso, and that’s why he’s one of the best that there ever was.”

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