The FIA race stewards have explained the reasoning behind handing Lewis Hamilton only a five-second time penalty for colliding with George Russell in the Belgian Grand Prix, and not the usual 10 seconds.
At Les Combes on the opening lap, Russell attempted to move around the outside of Hamilton, but the two made contact, with Russell being spun into the gravel and becoming beached.
He retired on the spot, with Hamilton being handed a five-second penalty, which he served at his sole pit-stop.
Hamilton is facing an unrelated investigation post-race for an unsafe release, as he recovered to take fourth on the road and move to second in the drivers' championship provisionally.
Both Hamilton and Russell felt the incident was a racing incident, but whilst the stewards penalised Hamilton, it was not to the full extent of a 10-second penalty.
FIA stewards explanation on Lewis Hamilton penalty
The Stewards reviewed video, team radio and in-car video evidence.
Approaching Turn 5 on the opening lap, Car 63 attempted an overtake around the outside of Car 44 and had established sufficient overlap to be entitled to racing room.
Car 44 remained on the inside. During the corner, Car 44 experienced understeer and, despite attempting to avoid Car 63 by applying corrective steering, made contact with the right-hand side of Car 63 with its left-front wheel.
The Stewards determined that Car 63 remained within the available racing room and that the collision was caused by Car 44 being unable to maintain sufficient separation.
The Stewards recognise several mitigating circumstances. Car 44 acknowledged the presence of Car 63, attempted to leave appropriate racing room and made a genuine attempt to avoid contact.
The collision resulted from a loss of front-end grip rather than from an aggressive or deliberate manoeuvre. In addition, the incident occurred on the opening lap, where reduced grip and compressed racing conditions are recognised.
For these reasons, while Car 44 was wholly at fault for the collision, the Stewards consider that a 5-second Time Penalty, rather than the standard 10-second Time Penalty, is the appropriate penalty in accordance with the FIA Penalty Guidelines.
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