Vasseur rejects single explanation for Hamilton’s recent penalty run

Vasseur separates Hamilton’s recent penalties

Fred Vasseur has rejected the idea that Lewis Hamilton’s recent Formula 1 penalties can be treated as one developing pattern, insisting that the Ferrari driver’s sanctions came from distinctly different incidents.

The sequence followed a separate pit-lane speeding penalty at the Monaco Grand Prix, although that sanction did not change Hamilton’s second-place finish. He also received a three-place grid drop in Budapest for impeding Oscar Piastri during Q3, falling from second on the grid to fifth.

The result left Hamilton second in the drivers’ championship at the start of the summer break, exactly 50 points behind leader Antonelli. The latest setback was also covered in Hamilton questions Ferrari pit stop after losing Hungarian GP track position.

Different incidents, different judgments

“It is difficult to put all the penalties into the same basket,” Vasseur told media, including RacingNews365.

He was particularly clear about the Spa incident, where Hamilton was penalised for causing the opening-lap collision that sent Russell’s Mercedes into retirement. Russell had described the contact as a racing incident and did not believe it warranted a penalty.

“For me, the incident with Russell was a racing incident, and if he had to do it again, I would ask him to do exactly the same because he can’t go on the kerb,” Vasseur said.

Budapest became a chain reaction

Vasseur viewed the Hungarian penalty differently, describing the weekend as a succession of errors. Hamilton locked a wheel during the pit stop, costing time, before Ferrari tried to optimise the pit release. The team then found itself two-tenths behind Antonelli at pit exit.

The pit-lane limit was 80kph. Although the FIA agreed that 80.5kph was acceptable, Ferrari recorded 80.6kph. “When the weekend is going in the wrong direction, 0.1kph is a big delta, and we took the penalty,” Vasseur said.