Lewis Hamilton‘s nightmare at Ferrari just got worse after officials slapped him with a penalty following the Singapore Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion, who already struggled to a disappointing seventh place finish, faced stewards after repeatedly going off the track during the race.
Hamilton was fighting serious issues with his car, losing grip and having brake problems that sent him wide multiple times.
The penalty? Five seconds added to his race time, dropping him behind Fernando Alonso‘s Aston Martin.
Alonso was furious with Hamilton’s driving throughout the closing stages.
“During the hearing, the driver confirmed that he left the track at several occasions. He was trying to manage a brakes issue situation,” the FIA explained in their official document.
But officials weren’t buying it.
“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.”
Neither Hamilton nor his team contested the decision.
## Alonso explodes in furious radio outburst against Hamilton
The incident that triggered the investigation involved Hamilton breaching Article 33.3 of F1 regulations – basically leaving the track without good reason.
With his brakes failing in the final laps, Hamilton was forced to surrender positions to both Antonelli and Leclerc.
He significantly slowed down to nurse his struggling car home and cut several corners just to make it to the finish line. He crossed just fractions of a second ahead of Alonso.
The Spaniard didn’t hold back.
He erupted in a heated radio exchange with his race engineer, unleashing his frustration about Hamilton’s driving.
Alonso also brought up Saturday’s incident when Hamilton accelerated under red flag conditions during practice but escaped penalty-free.
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