Hamilton hit with brutal five-place grid penalty for Italian Grand Prix
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has been hit with a five-place grid penalty for the Italian Grand Prix for having been found guilty in three separate incidents ahead of Sunday's Zandvoort race.
Hamilton showed impressive pace in the early stages of the Dutch Grand Prix, but his race ended early after a crash at Turn 3. On Lap 23 of 72, the Briton put a wheel on the slippery white line amid light drops of rain and lost control of his Ferrari.
While he initially looked to catch his SF25, he ultimately slid into the wall at the exit of Turn 3, and had to park up as his car suffered significant front-end damage,
Things then got even more complicated for Hamilton as he has been slapped with a five-place grid penalty by Formula 1 stewards for breaching the yellow flags rules before the start of the Zandvoort race.
The incident happened during the reconnaissance laps when the marshals had waved double yellow flags on the Turn 14 banking to ensure the safety of mechanics and other people stationed on the starting grid prior to the race.
While the stewards noted that Hamilton did reduce his speed, it was deemed that he was still too fast considering the conditions.
The Stewards noted: "The data showed that the driver had entered the double yellow sector approximately 20kph less than his speed at the same point in practice sessions, had reduced throttle application in the order of 10% to 20% and had lifted and braked 70 metres earlier when entering the pit lane.
“We did not consider that a 20kph reduction in speed at a double waved yellow sector constituted reducing speed ‘significantly’.
Furthermore, the stewards noted that “we also did not consider the speed at which the driver entered the pit entry road as being at a ‘greatly’ reduced speed.”
As a result, Hamilton will need to serve a five-place grid drop penalty at his first Monza race as a Ferrari driver while he has alsobeen given two penalty points on his license,
