Steward Connelly speaks of 'polite' conversation with Hamilton after stop and go

He had an opportunity to do so during the race when the red flag went out for Charles Leclerc's heavy crash. Hamilton went straight to the race committee to ask why he was penalised and why it was such a heavy penalty. Garry Connelly now tells Motorsport-Total.com and others how that conversation went.

"He was very polite and just asked, 'Guys, can you tell me why I'm being penalised? We said, 'Yes, of course. You went into the pit lane when it was already closed'," Connelly said. Hamilton then wanted to see proof.

Heavy penalties

"We showed him the video footage from his on-board camera. You see the warning light on the first screen and then the second screen. And then he said, 'OK, I accept that'." Hamilton, however, still wanted to know why he was penalised so severely for this. This stop and go penalty would have cost him the victory.

Connelly said that he doesn't like to hand out such heavy penalties either, but the rules are very clear on this. He was, in any case, glad that he could explain the penalty to Hamilton with clear examples. According to him, it is the teams themselves who are pushing for these heavy penalties.