Lewis Hamilton has been handed a five-second penalty after exceeding track limits late in the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix amid a rapid brake failure.
The Brit was running in the battle for fifth place with his Mercedes successor Andrea Kimi Antonelli, when his front brakes appeared to start failing.
Having been released by team-mate Charles Leclerc to go after Antonelli, Hamilton reeled in the young Italian, but with just a handful of laps to go, went off the circuit at Turn 16.
Sparks appeared to flail from the left-front brake, and as the problem worsened, Hamilton handed back sixth to Leclerc.
Despite there being just two laps to go, Hamilton lost a buffer of over 30 seconds to eighth-placed Fernando Alonso in that time, and went off the circuit in a bid to nurse his Ferrari to the finish.
This prompted a black and white flag, as Hamilton held on to seventh at the flag, finishing just four tenths of a second ahead of the Aston Martin, leaving the Spaniard furious.
“I cannot f***ing believe it,” Alonso said over the radio. “Is it safe to drive with no brakes?!” he added incredulously.
Before the #44 Ferrari had even reached parc ferme, Hamilton had already been placed under investigation by the stewards and was swiftly summoned to the stewards for potential breach of Article 33.3 of the F1 Sporting Regulations.
A short deliberation saw Hamilton handed the five-second penalty, which sees him drop to eighth behind Alonso in the final classifications.
“During the hearing, the driver confirmed that he left the track at several occasions,” the stewards’ report read.
“He was trying to manage a brakes issue situation. This being said, after further investigation, and in accordance with the list of exemptions foreseen in the Driving Standards Guidelines, the Stewards considered that this was not a justifiable reason and apply the usual penalty for such type of infringement.
“This was not contested by the team representative nor the driver.”
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