FIA stewards explain costly Lewis Hamilton Monaco penalty
The FIA stewards have provided a detailed explanation for their decision to impose a three-place grid penalty on Lewis Hamilton for the Monaco Grand Prix. The penalty was handed down after Hamilton impeded Max Verstappen during the first qualifying session, Q1.
Hamilton had initially qualified in fourth place, which would have been his highest starting grid position of the season. However, his joy was short-lived, as he was summoned to the stewards’ office to explain the incident.
During the hearing, it emerged that Hamilton’s team, Ferrari, had informed him that Verstappen was not pushing, when in fact the Red Bull driver was on a fast lap. This misinformation led to Hamilton speeding up and moving into the racing line, forcing Verstappen to react and abandon his push lap.
The stewards acknowledged that Hamilton was not solely to blame for the incident, as he had received incorrect information from his team. However, they also stated that the circumstances created by Ferrari’s mistake could not be ignored.
In their statement, the stewards explained that Hamilton’s car was on a slow lap and off the racing line as he approached Turn 2. Verstappen’s car, on the other hand, was approaching on a push lap. The stewards noted that Ferrari’s incorrect message to Hamilton resulted in him speeding up and moving into the racing line, which impeded Verstappen’s progress.
Despite accepting that Hamilton was not entirely at fault, the stewards deemed that the incident was serious enough to warrant a penalty. They pointed out that Hamilton had expressed his displeasure at the incorrect message from his team immediately after the incident, and that during the hearing, he had accepted that the team’s mistake had led to the incident.
The stewards also noted that, as with previous incidents of this nature, the fact that the radio message was the cause of the impeding did not amount to a mitigating factor. In other words, the stewards did not consider the fact that Hamilton had received incorrect information from his team to be a sufficient reason to excuse his actions.
As a result, Hamilton was handed a three-place grid penalty, which dropped him from fourth to seventh on the starting grid. The penalty was a significant blow to Hamilton’s chances of securing a strong result in Monaco, and he will now have to work harder to make his way through the field and challenge for a podium finish.
