Lewis Hamilton at risk of Singapore GP penalty for red flag breach

Lewis Hamilton is at risk of picking up a penalty at the Singapore Grand Prix. 

The seven-time world champion faces an investigation for an alleged red flag infringement during final practice in Singapore. 

Hamilton was noted by the stewards for an apparent infringement when Liam Lawson crashed his Racing Bulls, bringing out a red flag 15 minutes into the session. 

Hamilton was seen slowing for red flags at the scene of Lawson's accident, before he sped up to return to the pits. 

Worryingly for Hamilton, flag infringements in practice typically result in a grid penalty. 

Haas driver Oliver Bearman has twice received grid penalties for red flag infringements during practice sessions this year. 

At Monaco, Bearman was given a 10-place penalty for overtaking under a red flag, while at Silverstone, the Briton was hit with the same punishment for crashing in the pit lane during a red flag.

What are the stewards looking at? 

Analysing the incident on the SkyPad, Anthony Davidson explained: “He’s on a push lap, makes a mistake in Turn 3, locks up and then decides to go slowly after that, so that lap’s scrapped. 

“Now you start to see the red lights flashing in the distance. He carries on driving slowly, he’s looking around to find out where the moment is that’s happened on track.

“That happens at Turn 7 where you’ve got Lawson’s car obviously by the barrier. So the yellow flags are waving. Then after that, he then starts to speed up and carries on to speed up through the rest of the lap, pretty much full acceleration under red flag conditions up to Turn 10.

“But I don’t think that’s the issue here. If I go to a side-by-side of Verstappen versus Hamilton on their way into the pits under this red flag, you’ll see the difference.

“We believe this is where the stewards might be looking at, the pit lane entry. Remember Bearman in Silverstone getting penalised for carrying too much speed and ultimately crashing in the pit lane, so quite a different scenario to that.

“But I think it’s this moment they are looking at. The pit lane entry speed and the fact it’s under red flags. I’m not sure they are going to be too overly happy that he actually did speed up as well.

“I’m in two-minds there. I think what he did, it wasn’t dangerous. But if they are unhappy with the speed he’s carrying against other cars on track, there might be an issue.”