Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris found themselves involved in an unfortunate incident at the beginning of the Spanish Grand Prix, following Hamilton’s earlier contact with his teammate George Russell during qualifying.
As the race commenced, the Mercedes driver moved ahead of Norris into Turn 1, taking advantage of the long drag down to the first braking zone, which is among the longest of the season.
Norris, driving for McLaren, slotted in behind Hamilton as they approached Turn 2.
However, he appeared to accelerate a bit too soon, resulting in contact with the rear of Hamilton’s car and causing damage to Norris’s front wing in the process.
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This forced the McLaren driver to make an early pit stop on the opening lap, relegating him to the back of the field after a wing change.
The incident nullified Norris’s strong performance in qualifying, where he secured a P3 grid slot for the Spanish Grand Prix.
This was not the first time Hamilton had experienced unintentional contact during the weekend.
In the qualifying session on Saturday, Hamilton and his teammate George Russell collided on the start/finish straight.
Following a stewards investigation, Russell was deemed at fault for the incident, as he moved across the track and caused damage to Hamilton’s wing.
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The FIA issued Russell a formal warning in response to the incident.
Hamilton’s race wouldn’t be impacted by the early incident, as he went on to claim P2 behind the dominant Max Verstappen and ahead of his teammate who completed the podium.
Norris, on the other hand, failed to get back through the field after the contact, ending the Grand Prix down in P17, four places behind his teammate Oscar Piastri and just ahead of Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant.