Ferrari has been fined for the unsafe release of Lewis Hamilton during today's Belgian Grand Prix, however the driver retains fourth place.

As the seven-time world champion was being released from his pit stop under the VSC, a mechanic stepped in the path of the front right tyre as the car moved forward. He fell but was not injured.

The team explained the incident occurred in the context of a complex and unusual combination of circumstances. Hamilton had been issued a 5 second time penalty for his clash with George Russell on the opening lap which had to be served before work could commence on his car.

Charles Leclerc was in his pit box at the point Hamilton entered the pit lane. The Briton told his engineer that he wanted a front wing adjustment but that was not conveyed to the super controller.

Hamilton entered his pit box, served the time penalty and at the end of the 5 seconds one member of the team announced "Go" and then "0.6 degrees", the former being an instruction to commence the pit stop and the latter being an instruction for a wing adjustment.

The tyre change was completed, the jack-man dropped the car and the super controller activated the green light signal for Hamilton to move off. Just as he moved off, another mechanic with a front wing tool moved forward into the path of the front right tyre. Before he stepped forward he had his head down looking at the tool and did not see the green light.

The team acknowledged that for Hamilton to have been released in these circumstances was unsafe and attributed the error to an inappropriately late instruction for the wing adjustment, a lack of clear communication and the mechanic's failure to notice the green light. The team committed to undertaking a review of their pit stop procedures to ensure an incident such as this will not be repeated.

The stewards determined that Hamilton was in no respect at fault. Indeed, the driver realised what had occurred as soon as he commenced to move off and immediately stopped until the mechanic was clear.

Far from resulting in a sporting advantage, the incident brought about a sporting disadvantage for Hamilton who was delayed.

In the circumstances, the incident did not justify a sporting penalty but did justify a significant fine on Ferrari given that procedural failures of this nature prejudice the safety of mechanics.

The stewards took into account the unusual combination of circumstances which contributed to the confusion within the team - circumstances which would not be in the usual contemplation of the team. For this reason, they determined to suspend part of the fine.

Ferrari was fined €30,000 of which €10,000 is suspended for 12 months on condition that the Italian team does not commit a similar infringement in the meantime and on the further condition that within 14 days it submits a report to the FIA regarding the incident and protocols introduced to mitigate the risk of such an incident occurring in the future.

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