Jolyon Palmer heard Lewis Hamilton give ‘bizarre’ explanation for Silverstone penalty

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Lewis Hamilton would almost certainly have finished second at the British Grand Prix without a five-second penalty for a false start.

Hamilton says he wouldn’t have pitted at the end of the race if he knew he would lose P2 to George Russell, but it was always going to be a 50/50 call for Ferrari.

While he came out of the pits a car length behind Russell, he knows he would have been clear of his former teammate without the five-second sanction.

Jolyon Palmer says Lewis Hamilton’s unintentional hand movement was ‘strange’

Hamilton dropped from third to fifth, behind Russell and Max Verstappen, when he served his penalty at the first pit stop.

As he entered the pits, he was just 8.5 seconds behind teammate and race leader Charles Leclerc. But after prolonged battles with Russell and Verstappen, the gap had grown to over 20 seconds – an indication of how much race time he had lost.

Speaking in the post-race press conference, Hamilton said he unintentionally moved his hand, altering his grip on the clutch and causing the car to move.

“I didn’t mean to do it,” he said. “I didn’t even tell my hand to do it.”

Asked about that explanation on the F1 Nation podcast, Jolyon Palmer said: “Bizarre. I’ve never had that. I can’t remember him doing it before. He’s done so many races, he’s had so many great successes at Silverstone.

“Was something wishing him to just launch into the lead at his home race? He actually got a great start, which is surprising, given he jumped before, which normally catches you out and you hit the brakes and you’re all out of kilter.

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“I can’t imagine that the occasion got to Lewis. He’s done so many great races here. It just sounds strange.”

Hamilton has now made 389 race starts, which puts him second in F1 history behind Fernando Alonso.

He previously received a five-second penalty at the 2024 Qatar GP, when he was still a Mercedes driver, for moving before the lights went out.