Lewis is mad at penalty
LEWIS HAMILTON hit out at the penalty that cost him a chance of victory in the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.
The Brit was demoted from second to fourth after being handed a fivesecond sanction for colliding with Red Bull’s Alexander Albon in the closing stages.
It was the second time in three races the pair have collided after Hamilton was also penalised for hitting Albon at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Hamilton, whose Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas celebrated a deserved win in Spielberg, had earlier been relegated to fifth on the grid for a yellow flag infringement in qualifying.
“I can’t believe we’ve come together again but it really felt like a racing incident,” said the six-time world champion.
“Either way, I’ll take whatever penalty they feel I deserve and move forward.
“The race is done and I just feel like moving
forward. It’s not been a great weekend for me and Saturday was entirely my fault.
“It was odd, for sure, in the preparation to get a penalty, but it is what it is.
“It didn’t really destabilise me, it just encouraged me to go out there and drive the best I could.
“I feel like I did, I had the pace to catch up with Valtteri and it was a really unfortunate scenario with me and Alex.”
Charles Leclerc climbed into second, while Brit Lando Norris also benefited from Hamilton’s mistake as he was promoted on to the podium for the first time in his career.
Norris, at 20 the youngest driver in the race and now the youngest Briton to stand on an F1 podium, also claimed a bonus point for fastest lap.
“I am speechless,” said the Mclaren driver.
“There were a few points in the race where I thought I had fudged it up.”