Mercedes Forced to Shell Out $5,300 by FIA After Lewis Hamilton Breaks Equipment

Lewis Hamilton didn’t have the greatest Qualifying session in Spielberg on Saturday as he secured a P5 position for the Austrian GP. After the session was over, stewards also noted something Hamilton did wrong, for which Mercedes will have to pay a fine.

While going out for one of his runs, Hamilton’s W15 was released in an ‘unsafe’ manner, as reported by Sky Sports. He dragged a jack and an exhaust reactor too, breaking the former in the process. As such, the stewards declared that Mercedes had to pay a fine of roughly $5,300, which isn’t a huge amount by any means for the Silver Arrows.

However, the situation could have worsened had the Mercedes engineers not asked Hamilton to stop immediately. “The Stewards acknowledge that the team immediately informed the driver to stop to prevent any further damage and/or dangerous situation.” 

This was a minor inconvenience in what was otherwise a decent qualifying session for Mercedes overall. Hamilton won’t be too happy with his P5, but his teammate George Russell finished P3. This puts them in a good spot to fight for the podiums on Sunday.

Mercedes has become the third-best team

For a long time, Ferrari was miles ahead of Mercedes in the pecking order but that seems to have changed now, thanks to the Silver Arrows’ upgrades. In Austria (as was in Spain last week), Mercedes was clearly the third-fastest team behind Red Bull and McLaren.

While it will be difficult for Mercedes to fight for a win with Red Bull and McLaren, Hamilton and Russell can aim for the podium places. With a good strategy and fortune favoring them, maybe even a double podium.

Hamilton, in particular, will be looking to build on his third-place finish in Barcelona from a week ago. For that, he has to get off to a good start, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz splitting him and Russell on the grid.