Hamilton to appear before stewards after Belgian GP

Hamilton had already served a five-second time penalty after being found responsible for the opening-lap collision with George Russell at Les Combes.

The seven-time world champion clipped the rear of his compatriot's W17 with his front-left wheel, spinning the Mercedes into the gravel and forcing Russell into an immediate retirement. The incident also prompted the deployment of the safety car.

While Russell called it a racing incident and refused to pin the blame on Hamilton, the FIA stewards took an alternative view, hitting Hamilton with the five-second penalty, which he served at his pit stop.

Hamilton, who had come into the pits to serve his penalty under the Virtual Safety Car while running just behind his teammate, pulled away from his pit box and made slight lateral contact with a Ferrari mechanic.

Hamilton immediately radioed his teammate to check on the mechanic and was told that there was no problem. However, in the past such instances have trigger a further five second penalty for an unsafe release.

With Russell’s retirement and Hamilton’s fourth-place finish in the race, the seven-time world champion reclaimed second place in the championship standings by five points. Meanwhile, Antonelli continued to extend his lead, increasing his advantage to 45 points.