Lewis Hamilton risks Madrid F1 penalty after crash and ignoring Ferrari orders
Lewis Hamilton has risked a potential penalty for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton could be in trouble with the FIA stewards after driving his Ferrari Formula 1 car in an unsafe condition following a crash in final practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton looked set to go fastest but put his Ferrari in the wall at the final corner, causing the second red flag during an F1 session at the new Madrid street circuit.
Hamilton managed to reverse his Ferrari out and got moving again, but his front wing was stuck under his car, causing major damage to his SF-26 in the process including a puncture to his front right tyre.
Hamilton repeatedly ignored instructions from Ferrari to stop his car, insisting he could make it back to the pits.
"Stop in the safest place possible," Hamilton was told by his race engineer Carlo Santi.
Hamilton replied: "If I can make it back I will. If not, I will do it safely."
Santi then said: "We have a puncture on the front right."
To which, Hamilton responded: "I can see that."
The 41-year-old Briton finally gave up on his attempts to get back to the pits around half way through the lap and parked up his Ferrari.
F1’s 2026 sporting regulations state that "driving with, or failing to stop a car with significant or obvious damage" in a free practice session could be met with a reprimand or a grid penalty.
Race control has not yet confirmed that Hamilton is under investigation for the incident, which has caused a lengthy delay to running in FP3.
Hamilton's team-mate Charles Leclerc currently heads the timesheets in final practice.
Sky Sports F1 analyst Anthony Davidson suggested the stewards could come down hard on Hamilton.
"Any young driver that is watching this right now, you don't do that. You just don't do that," Davidson said.
"That's what you could have tried to do [get back to the pits] but that rule is there for a reason.
"If it went under the car completely and jacked your front wheels up and there were marshals on the track, you've got to think of all these scenarios."
He added: "The team need to give him more information.
"They need to say the front wing is under your car and the Race Director is going to give us a penalty over this."
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