Vasseur raises consistency concerns after Hamilton's penalty for Russell clash in Belgium

Russell's race came to an abrupt end after Hamilton clipped the rear of his former teammate's W17 with his front-left wheel, sending the Mercedes into a spin before it came to rest in the gravel. Hamilton was handed a five-second penalty for his part in the accident, even though Russell himself believed that it was just a racing incident.

Hamilton complained about the decision after the race, also insisting that it was a racing incident. Ferrari team principal Vasseur backed up his driver and believed that Russell could have done more to avoid the collision.

When questioned if the penalty was unfair, Vasseur told the media including GPblog: "Yes, because so far this season all of the incidents of Lap 1 were considered as racing incidents. And on this one, the person (Russell) had far enough space to not close on the right and go on the left. At the end of the day, it's not me with the decision but it seems tough."

Despite Hamilton's penalty he scored a solid fourth place finish, with teammate Charles Leclerc finishing second after benefitting from a virtual safety car. Speaking about his team's performance, Vasseur said: "We knew going into Silverstone and Spa it would probably be on the paper too difficult (of a) weekend. But overall it went pretty well. Even if I think clearly Kimi was a step ahead in terms of pure performance. But it was a good start, a good execution, we can fight.

"Probably we have tracks in the future fitting more with the package, but not always given because everybody is developing. And then we have to good execution on the weekend. Each weekend we start from scratch because we're developing."

The seven-time world champion was facing the prospect of a second time penalty after hitting a Ferrari mechanic during his pitstop.

The mechanic attempted to make a quick last minute change to his front wing, only for Hamilton to be shown the green light giving him the go ahead to drive out of his box. The mechanic was struck by Hamilton's car and fell to the floor but no injuries were reported in the incident.

Following an investigation, Hamilton avoided a second time limit penalty but Ferrari were handed a a €30,000 fine of which €10,000 is suspended for 12 months on condition that the team does not commit a similar infringement in that time.