Late Major Punishment After Hamilton Hit Mechanic In Belgium; Big Update After Fury On Russell Crash

Hello everybody. Hope you're all doing well. This video I'm talking about a late Stewart's verdict on Lewis Hamilton as well as key updates on George Russell following his crash in Belgium. So let's start with Russell and he had an awful weekend in Belgium.

He wasn't on the pace of his teammate Kimmy Antonelli throughout the weekend and while Antelli went on to win the Grand Prix, Russell did not even finish and didn't even finish the first with it being crashed out. Basically, Russell was on the outside of turn five while Lewis Hamilton was on the inside and there was a bit of contact between the former teammates and that spun Russell round and into the gravel and out of the Grand Prix. Now, while Russell was gutted about the crash, he saw it more as a racy incident and really he seemed more annoyed about a mysterious straight line speed issue hindering his performance and contributing to the crash.

With Russell telling Sky Sports F1, "I got totally swallowed up down the straight. I lost three positions down into turn five. The incident was a racing incident. Maybe I could have gone a bit wider. Maybe he could have break a bit more. The incident shouldn't have happened if I had the speed down the straight. 

Very, very disappointed. I appreciate everyone's working hard to solve the problem, but I'm stood here on lap five of the race. I felt like I was in a good position to fight for the lead at turn one and then suddenly no power and it's all gone. 

Now, going back to Russell and he does have a point about the straight line speed. I mean, after O Rouge on lap one, Russell was in P3, but he just got swallowed up by so many cars on the straight. And Mercedes team boss Toto Wolf said that all Mercedes engines lack power on the straight with him telling Sky Sports F1, "Two situations. 

First, the accident that happens was unfortunate for us. We lost a lot of constructor's points and George drivers points. We had an issue in all Mercedes engines that we that power out on the straits. That badly and it's 100% goes on us. We are trying our best as a team. We have the most powerful power unit, a strong car that's capable of winning. Everyone is giving their maximum to minimize the mistakes and still it happens because we're humans at work. We then can be down at Silverstone where George got a podium which is maybe better than the result should have been. then one DNF for Montreal, the other in Barcelona. 

That's a little bit of the story of our season. It's a technical sport, a mechanical sport. So, yeah, disappointing weekend for Russell. Now, going back to the crash and Hamilton was deemed at fault for the incident and he was given a 5-second time penalty, which he served when he came into pit at the virtual safety car. 

However, as Hamilton was given the clear to leave the pits, he accidentally hit a mechanic adjusting his front wing during the pit stop. And Hamilton quickly said on the team radio, "Is he okay?" It went green. to which his engineer Carlos Sansi said, "He's okay. We're all okay." So, it's really good news that everyone was okay following that instant. The bad news for Ferrari is that this was investigated after the race. Basically, the incident was quickly noted during the Grand Prix with race control soon confirming that the stewards was investigated after the Grand Prix. Now, this put Hamilton's P4 finish in Belgium at risk. 

However, following the steward's review, they've decided not to give Hamilton a sporting penalty and as a result, he keeps his P4. However, Ferrari has been fined €30,000, of which €10,000 is suspended for 12 months on the condition that the competitor does not commit a similar infringement in the meantime and on the further condition that within 14 days the competitor submits a report to the FIA regarding the instance and protocols introduced to mitigate the risk of such an instance occurring in the future. 

The steward's verdict said the tire change was completed. did the Jackman dropped the F1 car and the superc 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 tire. 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 44s have been released in these circumstances was unsafe and attributed the error to a 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 repeated. The steward was determined that the driver was in no respect at fault. Indeed, the driver realized what had occurred as soon as he commenced to move off and immediately stopped until the mechanic was clear.

Far from resulting in a sporting advantage, the incident brought about a sporting disadvantage for car 44, which was delayed in its pit stop. In the circumstances, the incident did not justify a sporting penalty, but did justify a significant find on the competitor given that procedural failures of this nature prejudice the safety of mechanics. 

But that's going to be the video from me. Thank you ever so much for watching. Make sure to like and subscribe for more videos. And until the next one, take care. Bye.