Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1, Ferrari, FIA, Motorsport
Tom Jenkins
Lewis Hamilton has doubled down on his criticism of the FIA years after his controversial penalty at the Belgium Grand Prix.
Hamilton will race at the Belgium Grand Prix for the first time as a Ferrari driver this weekend, as the historic track is set for its 58th F1 Grand Prix.
The Ferrari man will head into the weekend on the back of one of his better 2025 performances after finishing 4th at Silverstone, 10 places ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton will be hoping to repeat his success at last year's event where he took his second victory of the 2024 season after George Russell was disqualified for being underweight.
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However, Hamilton has also been on Russell's position when he had the win snatched away from him back in 2008 following a fiesty overtake on Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton went off at the chicane and rejoined in front of the Ferrari man. The Brit then allowed Raikkonen to overtake him, then immediately took back the position at the next corner.
Despite celebrating the victory on the podium, the win was handed to Felipe Massa following the ceremony with Hamilton, who then drove for McLaren, handed a 25-second penalty by the FIA.
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Although he still won his maiden championship in the same year, Hamilton clearly hasn't forgiven the FIA for the penalty, and called it out in a video titled “A Letter to my Younger Self”, back in 2018.
“Don’t let the FIA screw you in Spa,” he said.
“You’ve got to be careful. They will say it’s OK for you to let Kimi by and that you’ve done enough. And at the end of the race they will not let you keep that win.
“So you have to do double, you have to do more. Let Kimi by and give him a good margin so they can’t use it as an excuse," he added.
Massa who lost the Championship at the final corner of the season to Hamilton in Sao Paulo, was in no mood to commiserate the young Hamilton after the race.
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“It’s fantastic having won this race, especially after the disappointment of Budapest," he said.
"The team did an amazing job in preparing for this Grand Prix and the benefits of that could be seen right from the very first day.
Yesterday, I got pole and today the win, with the race fastest lap as the icing on the cake," he added.