Lewis Hamilton in trouble as his P7 finish in the F1 Singapore GP being investigated

Lewis Hamilton had a horrid end to the race during the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, as he went from potentially challenging for P5 to almost losing P7 after a late-race brake issue. The Briton is now under investigation for exceeding track limits and could well lose his P7 finish at Marina Bay.

Hamilton was the only frontrunner to opt for a two-stop strategy during the Singapore GP on Sunday, as the Ferrari man switched to the soft tire right towards the end of the race. He quickly caught up with Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc ahead of him, even overtaking the latter thanks to some team orders.

As he looked to get past Antonelli, Hamilton's front-left brakes seemed to catch on fire, as he told his team that he had lost his brakes. He instantly lost the position to Leclerc and was even caught up by Fernando Alonso, who was originally over 40 seconds behind.

During the final two laps of the race, Hamilton struggled to even stay on track due to his brake issue and exceeded track limits on multiple occasions. He only managed to beat Alonso by four tenths of a second to hold onto P7, but could be in trouble of losing it, as he has been noted by the stewards for a breach of Article 33.3 of the F1 Sporting Regulations, for "leaving the track without a justifiable reason."

The Ferrari team already seemed to believe that Hamilton would receive a 5-second penalty and would be demoted to P9 due to his infringements, as was announced by the driver's race engineer, Riccardo Adami.

"We finished P9 because we got 5s penalty for track limits," Adami told Hamilton after the session ended.

The FIA's official provisional race result still ranks Hamilton in P7, as they have not yet applied the penalty. It was announced live on air by the commentators after the race finished that the 40-year-old would be investigated after the session.

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Lewis Hamilton claims "force majeure" after exceeding track limits at end of Singapore GP

Lewis Hamilton before the start of the Singapore Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton told his team that his brakes did not work, and that this could surely be considered "force majeure" for him, as he went off the track during the final laps of the Singapore GP. The driver also explained that he was unable to stop his car at all.

When told that he would receive a 5-second penalty by Adami on the team radio after the race, Hamilton replied, saying:

"I can’t stop the car mate. The brakes don’t work, the pedal is on the floor. Surely it’s not a penalty when it’s force majeure."

As it turns out, Lewis Hamilton's race engineer had delivered the news prematurely, as the FIA did not apply a 5-second penalty on Hamilton. Rather, they have noted him for exceeding track limits and have summoned him to appear in front of the stewards to share his side of the story.

Edited by Hitesh Nigam