In the words of Christan Hewgill from The Fast And The Curious podcast, “We’re in an era where Formula 1 is trying to capitalize on its popularity from the increasing growth of the sport, from the exciting drivers, the social media presence, from Drive To Survive.” And who’s one of the most exciting drivers on the grid that almost everyone knows? Lewis Hamilton. And after what transpired during the Sprint at the Belgian GP, it might just be that Formula 1 is taking advantage of Hamilton’s popularity to increase its engagement. But what exactly caused the uproar during the Sprint?

In the shortened 11-lap race, Hamilton was chasing (a slower) Sergio Perez for P4. On Lap 6, the Brit got close enough to Checo to attempt an overtake, and when he went up the inside on the fat Turns 14 and 15, he made minor contact with Perez on the outside. While Hamilton’s move didn’t stick, Perez was forced to retire a few laps later due to the damage. But if you think Perez got the bad end of the deal, the FIA awarded Hamilton a 5-second penalty for the minor collision—which mostly everyone thought was a racing incident—and dropped him from P4 to P7 after the race. So when journalist Christian Hewgill was discussing the incident, he didn’t fail to mention the irony in the FIA’s doing.

F1 introduced Sprint races to give fans more racing, but when Hamilton actually tried racing, he got penalized for it. Hewgill said on the Fast & the Curious Podcast, “In Sprint races, we’re saying we want more racing. So Lewis Hamilton says, ‘I’ll show you some racing.’ Hamilton got points on his license for that move. If we want people to stay and fall in love with this sport, [we need] bold, exciting racing. Stop giving out penalties every other overtaking maneuver.”

Considering how Lewis Hamilton has become a household name, penalizing him would’ve definitely grabbed headlines and gotten people interested. But if the FIA continues giving out penalties every time there’s an incident as minor as this one, it’ll only lead to drivers being more cautious than they have to, and in turn, viewers losing interest.

After a disappointing Sprint on Saturday owing to FIA’s extreme actions against him, the seven-time champion hoped for a better Sunday. And while his P4 in the main race might suggest things went according to plan, the Belgian GP exposed a big problem for the Brackley outfit.

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Lewis Hamilton was reunited with his 2022 horrors

Following the introduction of the 2022 ground effect regulations, Mercedes’ most significant problem was porpoising. Although the Brackley squad had gotten around to fixing the issue in 2022, the porpoising seemed to have returned at Spa. In a post-race interview, Hamilton said, “[The car] was not bouncing a little bit; it was bouncing like last year. I couldn’t keep up with the cars in front. The team don’t know what caused it, and it is a concern to me. I know what I want, and I am praying for it.”

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2022 was a season to forget for Mercedes. While the 2023 season might seem better in terms of performance, there are still a lot of unknowns for Mercedes going into the summer break, which puts it at a disadvantage. While discussing Mercedes’ situation in his post-race analysis, F1 journalist Peter Windsor said, Not sure Mercedes have any of the answers they really need in terms of what they’re going to be doing with the car. And is performance still on a full fuel load a big question mark as we saw in Hungary, and to some extent [in Belgium]?”

Do you think the FIA will rethink its actions before F1 returns after the summer break, or will drivers in situations like Lewis Hamilton’s continue to be severely penalized for their maneuvers?

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