Lewis Hamilton hit by post-race penalty as Singapore Grand Prix result changes

Lewis Hamilton's nightmare end to the Singapore Grand Prix got even worse when he was slapped with a post-race penalty. He was already lucky to take the chequered flag in seventh place after suffering a brakes failure in the final few laps which meant he crawled to the finish line.

Hamilton was on the soft tyres in a final stint which began with much promise. He had plenty of pace and team-mate Charles Leclerc complied with the Ferrari instruction to move aside and let the seven-time Formula 1 champion pass and try to hunt down Kimi Antonelli ahead.

But as he did overtake the other red car, a huge plume of brake dust could be seen coming from one of the wheels of his Ferrari. And TV angles from cameras mounted on his racing machine also showed there were some sparks from inside the front-left, suggesting the brake disc may have been fully worn.

And that seemed to be the case as, over the final two laps, he was forced to tiptoe around the track, Leclerc roaring by and zooming off into the distance. Hamilton had run a clean race but, all of a sudden, he was in real danger of not finishing in the top 10 at all.

In the end, he did manage to cross the line still in seventh place, fractionally ahead of Fernando Alonso who had been around 40 seconds adrift of Hamilton until that brakes failure struck. However, he has now been dropped down the finishing order after a post-race investigation led to the stewards handing the Brit a penalty.

He was handed a five-second time penalty, having been found guilty of "leaving the track without a justifiable reason, multiple times." Once added to Hamilton's race time, it means the Brit drops to eighth in the final classification, behind Alonso.

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Explaining their decision, the stewards said: "During the hearing, the driver confirmed that he left the track at several occasions. He was trying to manage a brakes issue situation.

"This being said, after further investigation, and in accordance with the list of exemptions foreseen in the driving standards guidelines, the stewards considered that this was not a justifiable reason and apply the usual penalty for such type of infringement. This was not contested by the team representative nor the driver."

The ruling will please Alonso who completely lost his temper over the radio when he crossed the finish line marginally behind Hamilton. His X-rated tirade began: "F***ing hell mate, I cannot believe it. I cannot f***ing believe it. I cannot f***ing believe it. I mean, I cannot f***ing believe it. I cannot f***ing believe it."

He went on to question whether Hamilton should have been allowed to finish the race at all, adding: ""Is it safe to drive with no brakes? It should be f***ing P7, you cannot drive like you are alone on track. No respect for the red flag yesterday, today free track for them. Maybe too much."