Lewis Hamilton Reveals the 2018 Memory That Made His Heart Sink After Hitting a Ferrari Mechanic in Belgium

• Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari clipped a mechanic in his Belgian Grand Prix pit stop, and the moment immediately took him back to a 2018 Bahrain incident that broke a crew member’s leg
• Ferrari was fined €30,000, with €10,000 suspended for a year, after stewards ruled the release unsafe, though no blame was placed on Hamilton
• Hamilton finished fourth at Spa-Francorchamps, 45 points behind race winner Kimi Antonelli, and pinned most of his frustration on a Saturday practice crash rather than the pit lane scare

Lewis Hamilton said his “heart really sank” for a moment in the Belgian Grand Prix when his Ferrari struck a mechanic as he left his pit box, an incident that led to a heavy fine for his team.

Hamilton’s right-front tyre caught the crew member, who was making a front-wing adjustment and had not noticed the green light, knocking him to his knees before Hamilton brought the car to a stop. The mechanic was unhurt, and Hamilton drove on to finish fourth, but Ferrari was later fined €30,000, with €10,000 of that suspended for a year, after stewards ruled the release unsafe.

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‘My Heart Really Sank for a Second’

Hamilton’s stop had already been extended before the collision. His crew had to wait five seconds before starting the tyre change, serving a penalty for his opening-lap collision with George Russell. When the green light came, Hamilton pulled away, but a mechanic was still positioned over the front of the car making a wing adjustment.

“The green light went and so I went,” Hamilton said. “You’re looking over here [to the left at the lights], you’re not looking over there, so that’s more probably on the team, ultimately.”

He stopped the car within moments, and the mechanic was helped back to his feet. Hamilton said his mind flashed straight to the 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix, when a botched Ferrari stop for Kimi Raikkonen left mechanic Francesco Cigarini with a double leg fracture.

“But when it happened, then I noticed him and I stopped and it just went through my mind in that moment was back when Kimi hit and [a mechanic] broke a leg and my heart really sank for a second,” Hamilton said. “I’m really grateful he’s OK.”

Ferrari Takes the Blame, and Hamilton Keeps His Result

The pit lane incident went to a post-race stewards’ investigation. Ferrari admitted to an “inappropriately late instruction for the wing adjustment, a lack of clear communication and the mechanic’s failure to notice the green light,” describing a “complex and unusual combination of circumstances” at the stop.

Stewards attached no blame to Hamilton, noting he had already suffered a sporting disadvantage from the delayed release, and he kept his fourth-place finish. Ferrari’s fine stood as the consequence instead. Hamilton had started fifth on the grid, having been promoted from sixth by Lando Norris’ grid penalty, after crashing at the end of Saturday’s final practice session.

A Weekend Hamilton Blames on Himself

Hamilton preferred to focus on his own mistakes from earlier in the weekend rather than the pit lane drama. He crashed at the end of final practice on Saturday, and the rebuild that followed left his car handling differently than expected heading into qualifying.

“I don’t count on myself [being] unlucky, I think about my mistake that I made yesterday, so I take full responsibility really for the fourth place that I ended up getting,” Hamilton said. “I damaged the car then when they rebuilt the car they missed something on the suspension so the balance was completely different, so it meant I was probably a good couple of tenths, maybe three tenths, slower than I should have been in qualifying.”

He described the rest of his weekend as a chain reaction from that single error. “Then I ended up further back, got in the incident. Five second penalty, so like a domino effect from a mistake from myself,” he said. “But the team have been doing a great job with strategy, pit stops. We are continuing to improve the car. I think our pace today, without the damage, we could have been challenging for the win.”

Fourth Place and a Championship Fight Taking Shape

Hamilton’s result at Spa-Francorchamps moved him back into second place in the Drivers’ Championship, 45 points behind race winner Kimi Antonelli and ahead of Russell, whose race ended early after the first-lap collision with Hamilton. It capped a run for Ferrari that has produced two wins in three races, with Hamilton taking Barcelona and Charles Leclerc winning at Silverstone before finishing second at Spa.

“Hugely grateful for the points given the damage and given the crash yesterday,” Hamilton said. “Ultimately, not a good weekend from my side. I think my race pace was strong today and I think without the damage, and probably without yesterday, I think we could have been fighting for the win today. Even with the damage I was challenging Charles [Leclerc]. It is what is, we move on, and hope we can have a better weekend next weekend.”

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Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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