Lewis Hamilton hit with three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen in Monaco GP qualifying

Lewis Hamilton Hit with Penalty After Monaco Qualifying Incident

MONTE CARLO – In a dramatic turn of events during Monaco Grand Prix qualifying, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will begin the iconic street race from seventh on the grid after receiving a three-place penalty for impeding reigning world champion Max Verstappen during Q1.

The incident occurred at the high-speed Massanet corner when Hamilton inadvertently blocked Verstappen after his race engineer, Riccardo Adami, provided incorrect information over the radio.

"Verstappen pushing behind three seconds," Adami initially informed Hamilton before reversing course moments later, saying, "Sorry, he's slowing down behind. Watch your mirrors."

Hamilton, operating under the assumption that Verstappen was no longer on a flying lap, unexpectedly found himself in the Dutchman's path, forcing the Red Bull driver to alter his line to avoid contact. Visibly frustrated by the mix-up, Hamilton exclaimed over the radio:

"You said he was slowing down mate! F*** man!"

Penalty Decision and Stewards’ Explanation

While Verstappen succeeded in avoiding direct contact and advanced to Q2, race stewards reviewed the matter and attributed the error to Ferrari's misinformation to Hamilton, applying a three-place penalty in alignment with established precedents. The stewards deemed that Hamilton’s actions, though unintentional, hindered Verstappen's lap and therefore warranted a penalty.

In their official statement, the stewards explained:

"Car 44 [Hamilton] was on a slow lap and off the racing line as he was approaching Turn 2. Car 1 [Verstappen] was approaching Car 44 on a push lap. The team [Ferrari] first 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 fact Car 1 was always on a push lap."

"This resulted in Car 44 speeding up and moving into the racing line of Car 1 entering Turn 3. Car 1 had to react to Car 44 appearing to move into the racing line. This meant that Car 1 had to move off the usual racing line and the push lap had to be aborted by Car 1... This put it beyond doubt that Car 1 was impeded."

Hamilton Reflects on Miscommunication

Hamilton later speculated that the incident may have been caused by a glitch in Ferrari's GPS data, which led to a miscommunication between him and his team.

"I don't know if there was some sort of issue with the computer screen," Hamilton said. "It said that Max was on the lap, and then it disappeared and said it wasn't. So that was the information they gave me. They told me he was on a lap, so I moved to the side. I was completely the other way. And then, I guess for them they realized he wasn't on the lap, so they told me that. And so I started to accelerate."

He added:

"I stayed fully to the left. And I wasn't on the racing line, but of course it was distracting for Max."

Verstappen Calls for Consistency

Speaking ahead of the stewards' ruling, Verstappen expressed no personal animosity toward Hamilton, acknowledging the incident was unintentional. However, he stressed the importance of consistency in stewarding decisions.

"At the time, of course, I was like, 'what was going on here?' You know, it was quite clear that there was a car in my way," Verstappen explained. "But basically, the team just told Lewis that I was suddenly driving slow. So then, of course, Lewis accelerates, which is [a] normal thing because he thinks that I'm on a slow lap, but I'm clearly not on a slow lap."

The Red Bull driver continued:

"It's not like I'm trying to get Lewis a penalty. It's just the precedent of what they have been using in the stewards room. I know it's the team's fault, clearly, because Lewis is normally always quite correct with these things."

Verstappen concluded by emphasizing that no driver intentionally hinders another during qualifying:

"With these things, you know, like moving out of the way, and no one really wants to impede anyone on purpose. So, this was just unfortunate, but it happened."

The Stakes for the Monaco Grand Prix

With Hamilton dropping to seventh, the penalty reshuffles the grid for Sunday’s highly anticipated Monaco Grand Prix, where track position is crucial due to the narrow and winding nature of the iconic circuit. Verstappen remains the favorite at the front, but Hamilton now faces an uphill battle to contend for the podium from the fourth row.

The drama in Monaco has once again underscored the intense competition and razor-thin margins that define Formula 1's most storied race.

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