Lewis Hamilton 'misses F1 drivers' meeting' after controversial FIA stewards sanction

Photo: © IMAGO

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton 'misses drivers' meeting' after controversial FIA stewards sanction

Lewis Hamilton received a five-second penalty at Spa last time out

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 24 July 2026 20:56

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Seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton missed a meeting between the drivers and FIA race stewards ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Drivers met with stewards ahead of the weekend to discuss any potential changes that need to be made to the Drivers' Standards Guidelines ahead of 2027.

While the meeting had been scheduled for some time, it ended up being off the back of two controversial incidents at the Belgian GP last time out, and these reportedly led to a long debate in the meeting.

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One of those was Hamilton's five-second time penalty last time out at Spa, which he was handed following an early collision with Mercedes' George Russell.

Hamilton and Russell came together on lap one at turn five, with Russell being spun around and ending up in the gravel, out of the race.

Despite his disappointment, Russell told Sky Sports F1 after the incident that it was just a 'racing incident', hinting that he did not think that Hamilton should be penalised.

Nonetheless, Hamilton did receive the penalty from stewards, and that all but ended his chances of claiming a victory at Spa. A week later, the seven-time champion then had the chance to speak to FIA race stewards about why he was handed that penalty, but it seems that he chose not to take that option.

Hamilton misses FIA meeting

Hamilton was one of five drivers who opted to skip the meeting with FIA race stewards ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Aston Martin drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso also opted to skip the meeting, a meeting which also discussed another incident involving a Ferrari driver from the Belgian GP.

Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri were involved in a similar incident at turn five a few laps after Hamilton and Russell, but unlike his team-mate, Leclerc avoided a penalty in the race.

Reports suggest that there was some lengthy debate in the meeting about the Leclerc incident, and it is understood that the FIA stewards accepted that in hindsight Leclerc’s actions were worthy of a five-second penalty.

The meeting at the Hungaroring on Thursday evening is one of two meetings that the FIA are hoping to have with the drivers in 2026, and the second one is set to include them finalising some minor tweaks to the Drivers' Standards Guidelines.

It was decided at the 2025 Qatar GP that these stewards-driver meet-ups should occur more regularly, allowing drivers more of a say in the way the sport is being stewarded.