Lewis Hamilton handed FIA penalty as Brazilian GP goes from bad to worse

Lewis Hamilton has endured a Brazilian Grand Prix to forget in his first Sao Paulo outing with Ferrari as the FIA have confirmed a penalty for the seven-time F1 champion.

The 40-year-old suffered significant damage in the opening stages of Sunday's race after driving into the back of Franco Colapinto's Alpine on the first lap.

After investigating the incident which left Hamilton dragging a damaged SF-25 around Interlagos at the very back of the pack, the champion was slapped with a five-second time penalty from the stewards for causing a collision with Colapinto.

The Ferrari driver was running in P17 when the penalty was confirmed from F1's governing body, with Sky F1 pundit Martin Brundle suggesting that if he was down at the Ferrari garage, he would refrain from informing Hamilton of the decision after such a horrific start to his race.

Upon being informed of the stewards' decision, Hamilton wasted no time making his disagreement known, saying over team radio: "These guys are a joke! A complete joke! The car moved over on me so I clipped my wing.”

Hamilton retires from disaster Brazilian GP

Things once again took a turn for the worse for Hamilton when he pulled into the Ferrari garage on lap 40 to retire from the race altogether.

His team-mate Charles Leclerc had already DNF'd in the early stages of the 71-lap event after being involved in an incident with Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli, which saw the Aussie driver hit with a 10-second penalty.

After the McLaren star made contact with Antonelli on lap six, the Mercedes rookie touched Leclerc's Ferrari, sending the Monegasque star off the track and landing him with irreparable suspension damage, ending his race.

Following the second Ferrari retirement of the race, Sky's pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz said: "Such a disappointing end to a weekend for Lewis Hamilton. He came here so full of confidence, he loves this place he loves the reception, he feels like he belongs here, it's a second home for him.

"And how ironic that two of the only three people who have retired from this race are Brazilian citizens," he continued, referencing Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto and Hamilton, who was awarded honorary Brazilian citizenship in 2022.

READ MORE: Piastri slapped with huge FIA penalty at Brazilian Grand Prix

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