Lewis Hamilton has been handed a three-place grid penalty for today’s Dutch Grand Prix – but fans aren’t sure after seeing the onboard footage.
Hamilton was deemed to have impeded Red Bull’s Sergio Perez during the first qualifying session at Zandvoort.
The incident had a major impact on Perez’s session, as he backed out of the lap and had to use an extra set of soft tyres – meaning he had one set less for Q3.
Hamilton, meanwhile, couldn’t get out of Q2 and qualified in 12th place.
The three-place grid penalty pushed him down to 15th, although the seven-time world champion has since gained a place back following Alex Albon’s disqualification.
Onboard footage showed that Hamilton was positioned on the outside of turn nine, with Perez turning in before feeling he had been impeded by the Mercedes.
The Mexican fumed over team radio, shouting: “What the f**k is this idiot doing?”
But some fans protested Hamilton’s innocence, arguing that he had nowhere else to go at that particular corner and, had he switched to the other side of the corner instead, would have impeded Perez’s entry into the next turn.
One fan wrote: “Watch Sam Collins’ review of this incident and you’ll see that, other than vanishing into thin air, there was nowhere else for Lewis to go.”
A second said: “Perez out breaked himself, then blames Lewis.”
A third agreed: “Perez poor driving again. Ran wide into Lewis’s space.”
Hamilton himself admitted that the timing of his position on track was ‘bad’, given Perez’s oncoming arrival to the turn.
But he also said: “I did my best to get out of the way, I was far to the left as possible.”
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