Lewis Hamilton’s Singapore GP F1 penalty justified: “You can’t cheat to that degree”

Former F1 steward Johnny Herbert believes the stewards were right to penalise Lewis Hamilton for excessive corner cutting at the end of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Hamilton was handed a five-second time penalty after Sunday’s F1 race in Singapore for exceeding track limits.

The seven-time world champion was managing a worsening brake issue in the closing laps.

The issue was so severe that Hamilton lost over 40 seconds of race time.

Despite Hamilton having a genuine issue with his brakes, he was still penalised.

Herbert, who was an FIA steward until this season, felt the stewards made the “right call”.

“It was the right thing to do to give Lewis that penalty because there was a bit of cutting of certain corners, so he didn’t have to brake. He got his just desserts,” Herbert told Betting Lounge. .

“The stewards made the right call. Fernando was definitely making sure the stewards were aware of his anger.

“But I think it was quite clear at the end of the day that liberties were being taken for Lewis to get to the end of the race.

“You can’t take those liberties, you can’t cheat to that degree. Very Fernando, getting on his high horse, shouting and screaming!”

Alonso “not finished yet”

Herbert was also full of praise for Alonso, who delivered an astonishing radio message aimed at Lewis Hamilton.

In the past, Herbert has been critical of the two-time world champion, claiming that Lance Stroll was outperforming him at Aston Martin.

Alonso has out-qualified Stroll in the last 30 consecutive races.

After a run of bad luck, Alonso is back ahead of his teammate in the points standings following his P7 finish in Singapore.

Speaking of Alonso, Herbert added: “We all expect that from Fernando, that competitiveness from that very first race when he came into Formula One all those years ago.

“Alonso is not finished yet. He’s still able to produce some fantastic races. You’ve got Singapore, very hot and humid, a very tricky track, but you get the best from Fernando, once again. So, he’s absolutely right.”