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Lewis Hamilton was seen doing something ‘curious’ with FIA technical staff after Belgian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari attracted plenty of attention from the FIA during Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton received a five-second penalty early in the race after the stewards ruled that he had caused a collision with Mercedes driver George Russell on the opening lap.

And after he served that penalty, Hamilton collided with a mechanic in the Ferrari box, triggering an unsafe release investigation. In that instance, they escaped with a fine rather than a sporting sanction.

What was the correct punishment for this incident with Lewis Hamilton and a Ferrari mechanic?

The Scuderia were fined €30k, €10k of which is suspended

Lewis Hamilton handed Ferrari debris into the FIA

Hamilton lost a piece of his bargeboard in the contact with Russell at Les Combes, but it was returned to him after the marshals recovered it.

Franco Nugnes, a journalist for the Italian edition of Motorsport.com, noticed that Hamilton ‘presented’ the bodywork to FIA technical staff in parc ferme.

This was a ‘curious’ move, but Nugnes suggests he was wary of a disqualification if the car was found to be underweight. That would naturally have been an extremely controversial penalty, but perhaps he was acting with an abundance of caution.

Hamilton was disqualified from last year’s Chinese GP because of excessive plank wear, with Charles Leclerc thrown out of the same race for failing to meet the weight limit.

At Spa two years ago, Hamilton inherited the race win when Mercedes teammate Russell was excluded for the same offence.

In both the Leclerc and Russell cases, unexpected tyre wear was a contributing factor as they switched to unplanned one-stop strategies. This was an altogether different scenario.

Leclerc lost part of his front wing at the start in Shanghai, but the FIA accounted for this by fitting an official spare. In that sense, the regulations account for accidental damage.

Hamilton was satisfied to bank 12 points, enough to regain second in the championship, after a messy race. He has placed in the top six in every single Grand Prix this year.