Jamie Chadwick has analysed Lewis Hamilton’s Singapore Grand Prix penalty, arguing that cutting corners should result in more than a five-second punishment.
The British driver was managing a brake failure in the closing laps of the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. While he managed to finish the race, he was hit with a five-second penalty post-race for “leaving the track without justifiable reason multiple times", moving him from seventh to eighth in the finishing order.
When asked if Hamilton should have been disqualified from the race due to the condition of the car, Chadwick explained that while the seven-time champion should not have cut corners, a disqualification would have only been necessary if he had ignored a black-and-orange flag.
“I don’t think… Well, he didn’t have no brakes. If he had no brakes, he would have been in a whole world of… I think Lewis shouldn’t have cut corners. Categorically, I think that’s probably worth more than a five-second penalty, because he probably gained more than five seconds with the corners he was cutting," the three-time W Series champion explained during the Sky Sports F1 Show.
“If he could safely have brought it across the line, which I think he did, apart from the fact he was cutting the corners, ie, not causing Fernando big issues, whatever, then that’s one thing.
“I think Fernando’s playing on the point that, you know, there’s certain other things that have to be in check to pass scrutineering, whether it’s a mirror, you get black-and-white, black-and-orange-flagged. If those parts fail, then he should have been disqualified, and that should have been that."
Alonso, who was stuck on the heels of Hamilton by the end of the race, fumed over the team radio. “I cannot f***ing believe it,” Alonso exclaimed repeatedly. “Is it safe to drive with no brakes?" Chadwick argued that the Spanish driver's reaction showed that he is "still hungry, still wants it".
“But I do find Lewis’s reaction to it quite funny, because even Fernando, in his age, he just is so… Even the way he was talking about Isack Hadjar and the racing, his radio messages, he doesn’t age at all in those senses. He’s like one of the young kids in that sense. So I like the excitement from Fernando. He’s still hungry, still wants it," she added.
“But I mean, Lewis was a lost cause. He got the penalty in the end. Not his fault with the braking issue. He shouldn’t have cut the corners, and that was that, in my opinion.”
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