Lewis Hamilton says Max Verstappen 5-second penalty reminded him of Kimi Raikkonen incident in Spa 2008

Lewis Hamilton was reminded of his past incident with Kimi Raikkonen when Max Verstappen was given a 5-second penalty at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Briton reflected on a similar incident at Spa-Francorchamps at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix, where he was penalized for a similar incident with Kimi Raikkonen when he fought for his first world title.

Hamilton was fighting Raikkonen for the race lead when he cut the chicane and was slapped with a 25-second penalty. The Briton gave the place back only to repass the Finn in the same corner.

Lewis Hamilton was reminded of the 2008 incident when Verstappen tried to pass him in the same manner at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Reflecting on the past and comparing it to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix incident, the Briton said:

“Yeah. I was just reminiscing about 2008 in Spa, in my first championship-winning year, when I was fighting Kimi into the last corner of the Spa chicane and he ran me wide and I went across the chicane and I had to let him back past but then I overtook him straight away and I remember Charlie Whiting telling the team that it was OK and then finishing the race.”

Verstappen was penalized for his move on Lewis Hamilton at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where the Dutchman let him pass only to try and pass him again at the next corner. There were no race-ending casualties in Jeddah, unlike in Spa 13 years earlier, where Raikkonen retired from the race after crashing in the rain.

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Lewis Hamilton believes he was lucky not to cause a retirement for himself and Max Verstappen

Shedding light on his contact with Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton said:

“ I hadn’t yet had the information yet that he would be backing off, so all of a sudden he started slowing down into 27 where the DRS zone is but it wasn’t quite clear to me, it was a bit confusing and then all of a sudden, he slowed down at a real… at a rapid pace and that’s when I had to avoid going completely up the backside of him. Yeah, I felt grateful that I obviously didn’t take us both out.”

Lewis Hamilton equaled Max Verstappen in the drivers' championship points tally with 369.5 points after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, while his team Mercedes lead the Red Bull F1 team by 25 points in the constructors' championship. The final race in Abu Dhabi this Sunday will determine the outcome of the intense rivalry between the two throughout the 2021 F1 season.