Will Buxton Claims Lewis Hamilton Is Being Punished for What F1 Wants from The Sprint Races

Lewis Hamilton received a five-second time penalty following his collision with Sergio Perez at the Spa Franchorchamps Sprint race on Saturday. After the penalty was announced, the debate sparked everywhere if Hamilton deserved the penalty for the collision. Will Buxton, who was somehow in support of the Mercedes driver, believes the seven-time world champion is being punished for what F1 is trying to achieve through sprint races.

Formula 1 introduced Sprint races in 2021 to spice up the race weekends. After the qualifying session and main race weren’t seemed to be enough to build up the craze, it was time for some compressed racing. And on top of that, they brought a sprint shootout in 2023 to increase the rave even more. And hence, F1 played its card in the name of Hamilton to achieve what they always intended, excitement and drama.

A closer look at the incident between Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez in the Sprint, that saw the Mercedes driver handed a five-second penalty 🔍 pic.twitter.com/NQvIvHYM4B

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) July 29, 2023

There are obvious reasons for it, as Buxton, a renowned F1 expert, believes the penalty on the Mercedes driver was harsh. There wasn’t any need to show such brutality and slap an enormous penalty as the five-second one.

Buxton reckons F1 played the game with Lewis Hamilton

Buxton was initially in a dilemma about whether the penalty on Hamilton was legit or not. But after Sam Collins of F1 TV analyzed the situation, it was clear for the popular journalist to decide. And in the end, he realized that it’s what F1 wanted to spice up the action.

Speaking on it, Buxton stated during the post sprint race show, “Look, we have Sprint races because they [F1 authority] wanted to promote gutsy races, with punchy overtaking.” Following this, he added on the Hamilton penalty, “And then you penalize the punchy overtaking.”

Hamilton has been handed a five-second penalty for causing a collision in that battle with Perez

The Mexican has been told by his team to pit and retire the car #BelgianGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/P4E9IlTbmg

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 29, 2023

Admittedly, the Silver Arrows ace himself didn’t agree with the penalty. He later on claimed that it was purely a racing incident. Furthermore, he also added that he had his reasons for the collision.

The crash was unavoidable, reckons Hamilton

They ultimately collided as Hamilton and Perez were jockeying for positions during lap 6 of the sprint race. The collision greatly damaged Perez’s RB-19 as he lost places and ultimately had to retire. The seven-time world champion speaking about the collision with Sky Sports, said that the Red Bull driver was too slow, which is why they clashed.

The penalty caused the 38-year-old to drop down from P4 to P7, losing three points. However, the Mercedes driver isn’t worried about it much since the penalty didn’t take away much from him.

Lewis Hamilton would not want this to repeat on Sunday, as he hopes for a big points haul. If not a podium, the British driver will definitely look to hold back the Ferraris and have a higher race finish when he sees the Chequered flag.