Hamilton Handed Three-Place Grid Penalty for Impeding Verstappen in Monaco Qualifying

Lewis Hamilton has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Monaco Grand Prix after the stewards determined that he impeded Max Verstappen during Qualifying. The incident occurred in the opening Q1 phase when Hamilton, who was on a slow lap, moved into the racing line at the entry to Massenet, forcing Verstappen to abort his push lap.

Television footage showed Verstappen, who had just started a hot lap, approaching Hamilton at a much higher speed. The Red Bull driver had to change his line to avoid Hamilton and expressed his frustration over the radio. Both drivers eventually progressed to Q2 and Q3, securing P4 and P5 positions on the grid, respectively.

However, after reviewing the incident post-session, the stewards handed Hamilton a three-place grid drop, demoting him to seventh place. As a result, Verstappen, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso will all gain a position.

The stewards’ decision document stated, “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 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 and was not ‘slowing down’ as suggested by the team. This resulted in Car 44 speeding up and moving into the racing line of Car 1 entering Turn 3.”

The document continued, “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. We carefully examined the racing line taken by Car 1 in previous laps at the same area and determined that Car 44 did in fact enter the racing line that Car 1 used in previous push laps. This put it beyond doubt that Car 1 was impeded.”

During the hearing, Hamilton expressed his displeasure at the incorrect message from the team. The stewards acknowledged that the radio message was the cause of the impeding but clarified that it does not amount to a mitigating factor.

Hamilton joins Ollie Bearman and Lance Stroll in being penalized for the Monaco Grand Prix. Bearman received a 10-place grid drop for a red flag breach in practice, while Stroll was sanctioned twice for an FP1 clash with Charles Leclerc and an impeding incident in Qualifying.