Explained: Why Lewis Hamilton was given a 5-second penalty after the F1 Singapore GP

Lewis Hamilton suffered a front-left brake failure during the Singapore GP. This led him to make several off-track excursions to take the chequered flag after racing on for 62 laps. But his multiple instances of going off the track were not viewed keenly by the FIA, as they slammed the seven-time champion with a five-second penalty, which was added onto his final race time.

Hamilton started at the Marina Bay Circuit in sixth place. While Charles Leclerc appeared as the lead Scuderia driver in the initial phase of the race, Hamilton was soon let past to hunt down the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli.

However, this chase ended with Hamilton's SF-25's brakes fading off and leading him to concede position to his rivals. He then slowly made his way to the chequered flag and had Fernando Alonso hounding him down.

Despite this, Hamilton finished the race just over four tenths ahead of the Spaniard. Subsequently, the Spaniard was left unhappy with how his former teammate had been driving around with an impaled braking system and called for the Briton to receive a penalty.

Moreover, the stewards soon sent a summons to the 40-year-old for his off-track excursions late in the race, and it was ultimately decided to penalize the Briton for his driving. Though he had been hampered by a brake failure, stewards did not feel that it was a justifiable reason for driving off the track and gave the usual five-second penalty.

This led Lewis Hamilton to drop down a position in the race classification from P7 to P8, with Fernando Alonso benefiting from this penalty as he gained a further two points towards his points tally.

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Lewis Hamilton thought he would have been let off by the FIA due to the brake failure

Lewis Hamilton driving the Ferrari SF-25 at the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore - Source: Getty

In the final few laps of the Singapore GP, Lewis Hamilton's brake failure saw him drop down from sixth to seventh on the road. His subsequent off-track excursions were seemingly down to his car not slowing down in time.

He had thought that FIA would let go of his track limit offences due to his brake failure, as he said over the post-race team radio:

"Surely it's not a penalty when it's force majeure. That's one of the first times... Not the first time I've had brake failure.... It's definitely difficult. Sorry to lose the points."

Meanwhile, the five-second penalty led Lewis Hamilton to an eighth-place classification, which has added a mere four points to his points tally. This has bumped his season total to 125 points and is now 37 points clear of Kimi Antonelli in the drivers' standings.