Hamilton takes blame, avoids punishment

Lewis Hamilton escaped sanction from the Belgian Grand Prix stewards despite being found to be at fault for his first-lap crash with Alpine driver Fernando Alonso.

After both former Mclaren teammates had cleared the slow-starting Sergio Perez’s Red Bull when the lights went out, Hamilton used the big slipstream effect running up the Kemmel Straight to blast ahead of Alonso on the outside line into the first part of Les Combes. But he swung sharply across the Spaniard’s bows, with Alonso climbing over the kerbs to avoid a clash. This still couldn’t be prevented, and Hamilton was sent bouncing dramatically up in the air when his right-rear touched Alonso’s left-front.

Perez and George Russell nipped past the pair on the exit, after which Alonso fumed about Hamilton’s driving and the Briton was ordered to stop by Mercedes after it spotted a loss of water pressure on the smoking W13.

Despite having his front wheels ahead at the corner entry, a key part of F1’s 2022 racing rules guide, Hamilton “turned in towards the apex of the corner with Alonso still alongside and the collision occurred”, read the stewards’ decision. They also noted Alonso “moved his car off-line to the inside with both right-side tyres fully on the kerb and even somewhat inside the kerb”, and “at no point did Alonso appear to lose control or understeer”.

The incident was declared a “first lap incident with a lot of movement relative to other cars in the first few corners, and thus take no further action”. This means Hamilton will not face a grid penalty at this weekend’s Dutch GP, but may have to drop down in any case if Mercedes determines the damage picked up in the clash means he needs to have a fresh engine fitted at Zandvoort.