Fred Vasseur makes 'same basket' claim over spate of Lewis Hamilton F1 penalties

Fred Vasseur does not believe that all of Lewis Hamilton's recent spate of F1 time penalties can be put into the "same basket."

Across the British, Belgian, and Hungarian Grands Prix, Hamilton has picked up a five-second time penalty in each race, but for three different incidents. 

At Silverstone, he was pinged for a false start, finishing third. At Spa, he received the sanction for causing a collision with George Russell on the opening lap that spun the Mercedes into retirement, although Russell felt it was a racing incident and not worth a penalty. 

In Budapest, Hamilton received a pit-lane speeding penalty after exceeding the limit by 0.1kph after pitting, incorrectly, he believed, under the late VSC for Oscar Piastri's retirement. Although he finished fourth on the road after a scrap with Kimi Antonelli for third, the Briton was demoted to fifth in the final results, as team-mate Charles Leclerc snatched fourth by 0.7s.

Hamilton also picked up a pit-lane speeding penalty in Monaco, although it did not affect his second-place result, and also incurred a three-place grid drop in Budapest for impeding Piastri in Q3, dropping him from second on the grid to fifth. 

Heading into the summer break, Hamilton is second in the drivers' championship, now exactly 50 points behind leader Antonelli, but despite the unusual run of penalties for the seven-time champion, his Ferrari boss does not believe they should be considered as part of the "same basket."

"It is difficult to put all the penalties into the same basket," Vasseur said of Hamilton's sanctions to media, including RacingNews365. 

"For me, the incident with Russell was a racing incident, and if he had to do it again, I would ask him to do exactly the same because he can't go on the kerb.

"[The Hungarian GP] was probably a succession of mistakes: he locked the wheel during the pit-stop, we lost a couple of tenths, and then he was trying to be optimal on the pit-release, but it was a bit too early for the optimum. 

"When you start to make mistakes, it is quite easy to do more than one, and this weekend is a good example that when we are trying to push during the pit-stop, we are losing something and then two-tenths behind [Antonelli] at the pit-exit, and it is a succession. 

"The limit was 80kph, and the FIA agreed 80.5, and we did 80.6, and when the weekend is going in the wrong direction, 0.1kph is a big delta, and we took the penalty."