Lewis Hamilton fumes over penalty before Sao Paulo GP DNF: “These guys are a joke”

Lewis Hamilton was left furious after receiving a penalty before retiring from the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

It was a miserable afternoon for Hamilton, who dropped down the order on the run to Turn 1 on the opening lap following contact with Carlos Sainz.

Hamilton then sustained front wing damage after clipping Franco Colapinto’s car on the start-finish straight.

The loose front wing caused significant damage to the floor of his Ferrari, ruining his race.

While Hamilton was able to pit under the early Safety Car, he had no pace for the rest of the race due to the damage.

Shortly before Hamilton was called into the pit lane to retire from the race, he was handed a five-second penalty for the contact with Colapinto.

Hamilton, who criticised the stewards after the Mexico City Grand Prix, was angry when informed of the penalty over team radio by race engineer Riccardo Adami.

“These guys are a joke. A complete joke,” Hamilton said. “The car moved over on me, so I clipped my wing.”

Messy weekend for Hamilton

Hamilton’s weekend started on the back foot as he was knocked out in SQ2 during sprint qualifying.

The 40-year-old’s sprint qualifying effort was ruined by Charles Leclerc’s spin, forcing Hamilton to back off from his fast lap.

Hamilton made a fast start in the sprint, moving into the top eight and ultimately finishing seventh.

Unfortunately, grand prix qualifying didn’t go to plan for Hamilton either, as he failed to make it beyond Q2 again.

Hamilton blamed tyre warm-up issues for his woes in Saturday’s qualifying session.

A poor start and contact with Colapinto in the race capped off a torrid weekend for Ferrari.

Hamilton complained throughout the race about his ill-handling Ferrari.

“It’s likely I’m going to end up in the barriers,” Hamilton reported midway through the race. “The rears. The rear is dropping off big time.”

Speaking to F1 TV after the race, Hamilton reflected: “I mean, jeez, This is definitely a weekend to forget. It's a shame because I love Brazil and also, you know, just everyone in the team, every single person in the team, they turn up every week and give it their absolute best and to come away with nothing, to not finish a race the second time in the year, it's really devastating and I feel terrible for the team. 

“I'm sorry for my part in qualifying, putting myself in that position. I just have to... we'll get back up tomorrow and just give it another go.”

Ferrari teammate Leclerc’s race also ended prematurely.

Leclerc was on the wrong end of Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli’s collision at Turn 1 following the Safety Car.