Lewis Hamilton has been given a five-place grid penalty for next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix after he failed to slow down for yellow flags on his way to the grid at Zandvoort on Sunday.
Hamilton, who crashed out of the Dutch Grand Prix through his own driver error, will start no higher than sixth for Ferrari’s home event at Monza and has been given two penalty points on his superlicence.
His infringement came on the laps to the grid around 40 minutes before the formation lap, where double yellow flags at the last corner were being waved.
Hamilton was only 20kph (12.4mph) slower than the speed he was doing in practice, which was deemed not significant enough.
The stewards also noted separately that Hamilton did not enter the pit lane at “greatly reduced speed”, lifting and braking only 70 metres earlier compared to practice.
It only adds to the misery for Hamilton after he lost control of his car at Turn 3 when running in seventh during the race and suffered his first retirement as a Ferrari driver.
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Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari woes continue as he crashes out of the Dutch Grand Prix
Stewards’ full verdict on Hamilton
The stewards said:
“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence.
“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.
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Highlights of the Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort
“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.
“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.
“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.
“Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.”
