Lewis Hamilton’s Belgian Grand Prix went from bad to worse in the space of a single pit stop. After receiving a five-second penalty for his first-lap clash with George Russell, the Ferrari driver accidentally knocked down one of his own mechanics while leaving the pit box.

It all started when Hamilton came into the pits; Ferrari first waited five seconds to serve the penalty before changing his tires. At the same time, Hamilton asked the team to make a small adjustment to the front wing of his car.

After the tire change was finished, a Ferrari mechanic stepped in front of the car to adjust the front wing. At that moment, the car was lowered to the ground, and the green light told Hamilton he could leave the pit box. Hamilton drove away because he followed the green light, but his front-right wheel hit the mechanic and knocked him to the ground. As soon as Hamilton saw the mechanic, he stopped the car immediately. His quick reaction meant the car only moved a short distance before coming to a halt, and fortunately, the mechanic was not injured.

Once the race was over, Formula One officials looked into the pit stop incident. Ferrari admitted that it had let Hamilton leave the pit box when it was not safe. The stewards said the mistake happened because of an inappropriately late instruction for the wing adjustment, a lack of clear communication and the mechanic’s failure to notice the green light.

Because of those mistakes, Ferrari received a 30,000-euro fine, but 10,000 euros of that amount will only have to be paid if the team makes a similar mistake within the next year. Ferrari also committed to reviewing its pit stop procedures to prevent a similar incident from happening again.

The stewards decided that Hamilton did nothing wrong. They ruled that he “was in no respect at fault” because he simply followed the green light from his team, which told him it was safe to leave the pit box. The FIA also noted that Hamilton actually suffered a sporting disadvantage by stopping immediately after the impact to make sure the mechanic was clear of the car.

After getting the green signal, Hamilton expressed his satisfaction with the decision.

“I am just grateful my mechanic didn’t get hurt,” Hamilton said after the race. “I am looking at the lights, and I am supposed to go when the car is dropping. And I went, and then I saw him to my right and stopped as soon as I could.”

Speaking further about the incident, Hamilton admitted his “heart really sank” when he felt the impact because he feared the mechanic had suffered a serious injury.

This was not the first time Ferrari faced a pit stop accident. During the 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen left the pit box after the green light came on too early, even though one rear tire had not been fully changed. After that, his car hit a Ferrari mechanic, who suffered serious fractures in both legs. That 2018 accident immediately came to Hamilton’s mind.

“All I could think about at the time was when Kimi (Raikkonen) did a leg, and that is what I thought (had happened) initially, but he got up and moved,” Hamilton said after the race.

Now, even though he avoided any punishment for the pit lane incident, the five-second penalty for his collision with Russell didn’t sit well with him.

Lewis Hamilton disagrees with his five-second penalty

Lewis Hamilton started the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix from fifth place on the starting grid, while Mercedes driver George Russell started third. On the first lap, they fought for fourth place at the Les Combes corner. Russell tried to overtake Hamilton from the outside. But Hamilton’s Ferrari lost front grip (understeer), so the car slid into Russell’s Mercedes. The crash sent Russell’s car into the gravel, and he had to retire from the race without finishing.

That brought in a five-second penalty for him, which he did serve but didn’t agree with.

“[It was] unfortunate for him, unfortunate for me. I didn’t want to see that.” Hamilton said.  “I mean, I think it was a racing incident, so obviously I didn’t think it should have been a penalty, but it is what it is.”

Even George Russell felt the incident did not deserve a penalty. He revealed that his Mercedes’ battery deployment had dropped to “0 per cent” through Eau Rouge, leaving him with less straight-line speed and making him more vulnerable to attacks before the contact with Hamilton.

Even George Russell supported Hamilton and said his car’s battery dropped to “0 per cent” while going through the Eau Rouge section of the track. Because of that, his car lost power and became easier for other drivers to attack before the crash.

“Honestly, I think it was a racing incident. He didn’t do it on purpose.” Russell said. “Yeah, he was more to blame than I am, but he didn’t do anything reckless. I’m just most angry that I was in that position in the first place. I was in a great position out of Turn 1, and I was ready to fight the two guys ahead of me into Turn 5. Instead, I got swamped by three drivers.”

Because of the crash, part of the floor underneath the car broke, which caused the car to lose a lot of downforce. This made the Ferrari slower and harder to drive for the rest of the race. Hamilton also revealed that damage from his crash in final practice on Saturday had left the team’s setup compromised for qualifying, creating what he described as a “domino effect” that ultimately put him in the position where the first-lap collision occurred. But even then, despite carrying floor damage for most of the race, he recovered to finish fourth, a result that moved him back up to second in the Drivers’ Championship behind race winner Kimi Antonelli.

“We are continuing to improve the car. I think our pace today, without the damage, we could have been challenging for the win,” Hamilton said after the race.