Damon Hill questions Lewis Hamilton’s reputation as a ‘clean racer’ after seeing worrying pattern
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Lewis Hamilton was penalised during the Mexico City Grand Prix last weekend after a battle with Max Verstappen. The stewards ruled that he’d left the track and gained an advantage after cutting across the turn-four grass.
Hamilton received a 10-second penalty for the incident, which effectively dropped him out of podium contention. He eventually finished eighth.
It was a controversial decision, particularly as the stewards viewed the turn-one collision between the two drivers as a racing incident. But Martin Brundle said Hamilton’s penalty was fair.
It’s a 10-second time penalty for Lewis Hamilton for leaving the track and gaining an advantage at Turn Four whilst battling Max Verstappen ⚠️ pic.twitter.com/9e6CCHHBpP
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) October 26, 2025
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It’s the third time in six races that the Ferrari driver has been sanctioned by the stewards. He received a five-place grid penalty for the Italian GP after failing to follow the race director’s instructions on his warm-up laps at Zandvoort (he carried too much speed with mechanics working on the grid).
Then, in Singapore, Hamilton was docked by five seconds after repeatedly exceeding track limits as he tried to fend off Fernando Alonso in the midst of a worsening brake problem. That dropped him from P7 to P8.
Damon Hill says Lewis Hamilton ‘always comes off’ worse with the stewards
David Coulthard has called Hamilton an ‘anomaly’ among the greatest F1 drivers because he’s a ‘very clean racer’. Drivers like Verstappen and Michael Schumacher have been painted as ‘villains’ by some due to their uncompromising style.
But speaking on the ‘Stay On Track’ podcast, Damon Hill questioned whether he should still have this reputation. He argued that the stewards ‘always’ seem to rule against Hamilton.
Hill said: “Lewis is the guy that a lot of people regard as a clean racer, but he’s got more penalty points than just about anybody! I don’t know what he does. He always comes off worse in these deals!”
Hamilton accused Verstappen of pushing him wide over the radio, but the officials saw it differently. The 40-year-old said in the media pen after the race that he felt ‘let down’ by the FIA.
How many penalty points does Lewis Hamilton actually have?
Hamilton only has two penalty points on his superlicence, both of which he earned for his Dutch GP infraction. Half of the drivers in F1 have more.
That would suggest that Hill’s comments are unfair. Indeed, Hamilton had gone 51 races without a penalty point before the race at Zandvoort.
Of course, some rivals would question whether he’s as rule-abiding as he’s made out to be. For instance, Adrian Newey felt Hamilton committed a ‘deliberate professional foul’ on Verstappen at Silverstone in 2021.
The last few races have certainly been a departure from the norm for the Briton, who’s the second-most experienced driver in F1 history, but shouldn’t necessarily change his reputation.
