Lewis Hamilton under fire after ignoring Ferrari calls to stop damaged car in Madrid FP3

Lewis Hamilton faced criticism from fans after ignoring Ferrari’s calls to stop his damaged car during third practice for the Spanish GP

Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has come under fire from fans after ignoring orders to stop his damaged Ferrari during the third free practice session in Madrid.

The Ferrari driver's session ended abruptly when he hit the wall at the final corner of the Madring circuit, sustaining a front-right puncture and a broken front wing.

Rather than stopping on the side of the track, Hamilton attempted to nurse his machinery back to the pitlane. The decision left a trail of debris and led to a tense radio exchange with his race engineer Carlo Santi, who repeatedly urged Hamilton to pull over in a safe place.

Hamilton did eventually stop on the side of the track at the exit of Turn 14, and fans have already had a lot to say about the incident.

"Yeaaaahhhh he’s getting that penalty lol," one fan commented on Reddit, predicting a penalty for the Briton.

"Lewis, when you get told to stop the car, just stop the car. Way too risky for penalties lol," someone else posted, and another fan added: "Doing all that just to stop before the pits anyway is not Lewis’ proudest moment I can’t lie."

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

Further comments included: "And now he's giving every single marshal post around the track the opportunity to practice debris clean-up," and "As I often defend him, whatever happened after the hit was just ridiculous. I said the same about Antonelli when he was dragging a damaged car during the race. I expect more from him... I get he didn't want to waste this practice but he didn't judge his situation accurately."

Others were more forgiving about the moment. "This put everything into context quite well. Everyone just trying to do the best thing possible," another fan wrote in response to the team radio messages.

"He's dropping that extra rubber on track which will help him in qualifying," someone else added.