Lewis Hamilton has been handed a five-place grid penalty for his debut Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari and in front of the passionate Tifosi crowd.
The British driver was noted for a pit-lane entry incident before the Dutch Grand Prix during the laps to the grid, with stewards confirming he would be investigated after the race for ignoring yellow flags.
Ultimately, the penalty would have no impact on his efforts at Zandvoort, where Hamilton crashed out of the race on Lap 23.
However, the FIA stewards have now issued a formal reprimand, releasing a document detailing the infraction: “Due to the nature of the track, the Race Director had informed all participants that the last corner before the pit lane would have double yellow flags waved.
“This was to ensure the safety of those on the grid and in the pit lane. The regulations require that any driver passing through a double waved yellow flag marshalling sector ‘reduce speed significantly…’.
“We looked through the available telemetry within the FIA system. We also requested the team to provide us with their telemetry data. All of this took some time and this decision was delayed as a result.
“In addition, Article 44.1 requires all drivers covering more than one reconnaissance lap to drive down the pit entry road at ‘greatly reduced speed’.
“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.
FIA outlines reasoning behind five-place penalty for Hamilton
The stewards’ report stated further: “We did not consider that a 20kph reduction in speed at a double waved yellow sector constituted reducing speed ‘significantly’. We also did not consider the speed at which the driver entered the pit entry road as being at a ‘greatly’ reduced speed.”
On the severity of the punishment, the FIA explained: “The penalty guidelines for such an infringement would ordinarily attract a penalty of 10 grid positions at the next race.
“However, given that the driver had made an attempt to reduce his speed and to brake earlier, we took that into account as mitigating circumstances and imposed a 5 grid place penalty.”
In addition to the grid drop, Hamilton was also handed two penalty points on his FIA Super Licence, having entered the Dutch GP with a clean record.
After the race, Hamilton reflected on the crash that ended his afternoon prematurely, admitting he was caught off guard: “That took me by complete surprise what just happened there. I’d lost the rear end at the bank and then that was it.
“Apart from that, it’s been a really solid weekend, and we made lots of, I felt like I made progress, just overall, my approach and everything, and so to come away with nothing is definitely painful.”
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton admits ‘painful’ F1 Dutch GP crash came as a ‘complete surprise’
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