Hamilton hit with fine for celebrations during Brazilian Grand Prix victory

Lewis Hamilton has been fined £4,300 (€5,000) as well as an additional £17,000 (€20,000) suspended until 2022 following his remarkable victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Hamilton – who started yesterday’s sprint dead last – came from 10th on the grid to secure a memorable victory in Sao Paulo to ensure he remains well in the Formula One title race behind Max Verstappen.

Despite this, the Englishman’s celebrations were temporarily cut short after being called into the stewards room for the second time this weekend, after he was initially disqualified in Saturday’s qualifying due to a DRS infringement on his Mercedes car.

As a result, this was due to him being penalised by F1 officials for undoing ‘his safety belt whilst in motion on the track’ as he celebrated with the Brazilian fans during his cool-down lap.

Hamilton is not the only man to have been on the end of a fine in Sao Paulo this week, as title rival Verstappen also found himself in the bad books with the stewards.

Following the Englishman’s disqualification in qualifying due to a ‘technical infringement’ the 24-year-old took a look at Hamilton’s car at the apparent illegal area.

Verstappen’s examination of the Mercedes man’s rear wing also saw him break F1 protocol, and he was subsequently fined a whopping £42,500 (€50,000) ahead of Saturday’s sprint.

Can Hamilton catch Verstappen in the F1 standings? Let us know in the comments section below.

Discussing his hefty fine afterwards the Dutchman saw the funny side of the punishment, commenting: “It’s quite a big fine, so I hope they have a nice dinner and a lot of wine

“I hope good expensive wine, that would be nice. They can invite me for dinner as well. I’ll pay for that dinner too."

Verstappen’s Red Bull boss Christian Horner was quick to jump to the defence of his star driver, admitting there were no bad intentions from the Dutchman.

Horner told Sky Sports F1: “Well, as we see with many, many drivers, they like to look around and see what’s going on with the other cars.

“I’m sure that’s all it was, just a bit of inquisitiveness and nothing more. We’ve had drivers pull our clutch paddles, tyres pushed, heads in cockpits. It’s never been brought up previously.

“Obviously Mercedes’ straight-line speed is very impressive.I think, maybe, he is just having a look at that. Drivers are very inquisitive animals sometimes and, as I said, we’ve seen that many, many times.”

Despite Hamilton coming out on top in Brazil Verstappen is still the man to catch in the driver standings, as he sits 14 points clear of the Englishman with just three races to go.

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