Hamilton receives three-place penalty for impeding Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton will start the Monaco Grand Prix from seventh position after receiving a three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen during qualifying. The Ferrari driver, who initially secured fourth place, is therefore relegated behind Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso.

The incident occurred in Q1 when Hamilton, informed by his engineer that Verstappen was driving slowly, accelerated and moved onto the racing line at turn 3, just as the Red Bull driver was actually completing a fast lap. This radio confusion forced Verstappen to abandon his attempt and alter his usual line to avoid the Ferrari.

« I think I was doing a good job of staying out of everyone’s way, but then the team said Max was on a fast lap, so I moved to the left, then they said ‘no, he’s not on a fast lap.’ I was about to get back on the throttle. I accelerated for 10 meters. I was off line but I definitely distracted him », explained Hamilton after qualifying.

A costly misunderstanding

The race stewards meticulously studied the incident by analyzing Verstappen’s previous trajectories in the same sector. They concluded that Hamilton had indeed moved onto the Dutchman’s usual racing line, making the obstruction indisputable.

« The team initially informed the driver of car 44 that car 1 was on a fast lap. Then they sent another message saying that car 1 was ‘slowing down’ when in reality car 1 was still on a push lap and was not ‘slowing down’ as the team suggested », the stewards detail in their report.

Speaking after the incident, Verstappen conceded that the error was made by the Ferrari team rather than the British driver: “I spoke quickly to Lewis about it. It’s very simple but it can’t happen. But it’s the team’s error. I saw that the team told him I was driving slowly when I was clearly driving fast, so it’s not Lewis’s fault,” he told Sky Sports F1.

The commissioners, however, recalled that the fact that incorrect radio information is the source of the inconvenience does not constitute a mitigating factor, in accordance with similar precedents. They therefore applied the standard penalty of a three-place grid drop.

Ferrari misses the mark on the starting grid

This penalty reshuffles the deck for the start of the Monaco Grand Prix. Verstappen, initially fifth, moves up to fourth position behind the leading trio of Lando Norris on pole position, Charles Leclerc, and Oscar Piastri. Hamilton finds himself in seventh position with Hadjar and Alonso between him and his former rival.

Ferrari’s mistake therefore deprives its driver of a more favorable starting position on a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult. The seven-time world champion had nevertheless shown good form throughout the Monaco weekend at the wheel of his new mount.

« The weekend generally went well. It was amazing to be in a Ferrari on this track. The car was really good. Today in FP3, having that collision was definitely not helpful », Hamilton admitted before the penalty was announced.

For the race strategy, the Briton admits his uncertainty: “I really don’t know about tomorrow’s strategy. Last year was terrible because we had a red flag in the first lap, so it’s good that we have two stops. For some people, the medium degraded a lot. I chose two hard compounds, Charles chose to have two mediums.”

This drop of three places complicates a weekend where qualifying is crucial even further. Hamilton will now rely on a comeback on Sunday, despite the difficulties of the Monaco track.