Hamilton ignores Ferrari's repeated stop calls after crashing out of Spanish GP practice

Lewis Hamilton sparked a wave of fan criticism after refusing to stop his damaged Ferrari on the side of the track during third free practice for the Spanish Grand Prix at Madrid’s Madring circuit.

Hamilton struck the wall at the final corner of the session, sustaining a front-right puncture and a broken front wing. Rather than halting immediately, the seven-time world champion attempted to nurse the car back to the pitlane, scattering debris across the circuit and triggering a tense radio exchange with race engineer Carlo Santi, who repeatedly urged him to find a safe place to stop. Hamilton eventually pulled over at the exit of Turn 14, short of the pits.

The incident drew swift reaction on social media. “Lewis, when you get told to stop the car, just stop the car. Way too risky for penalties,” one fan posted. Another was blunter: “Doing all that just to stop before the pits anyway is not Lewis’ proudest moment, I can’t lie.”

Some fans questioned Hamilton’s judgement rather than his intent. “Whatever happened after the hit was just ridiculous,” one commenter wrote. “I get he didn’t want to waste this practice but he didn’t judge his situation accurately. I expect more from him.”

Others pointed to the debris trail as a secondary concern. “And now he’s giving every single marshal post around the track the opportunity to practice debris clean-up,” one fan noted.

Not everyone was critical. A portion of the reaction was more sympathetic once the team radio messages were made public. “This put everything into context quite well — everyone just trying to do the best thing possible,” one fan wrote, while another offered a tongue-in-cheek defence: “He’s dropping that extra rubber on track which will help him in qualifying.”

Whether Hamilton faces a stewards’ investigation for the incident remains to be seen, though several fans predicted a penalty for the manner in which he returned the stricken car to the circuit rather than stopping promptly.