{"id":113093,"date":"2025-09-02T11:58:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T11:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/113093\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T11:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T11:58:09","slug":"why-hamiltons-f1-dutch-gp-infraction-caused-a-penalty-for-monza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/113093\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Hamilton’s F1 Dutch GP infraction caused a penalty for Monza"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s nothing unusual in drivers messing up the pre-race routine and getting punished for that.<\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton<\/a> himself picked up two penalties in Sochi, 2020 for misinterpreting then-race director Michael Masi\u2019s instructions on practice starts, performing them in a place which the stewards deemed inappropriate \u2013 and therefore had to serve two five-second penalties during the race.<\/p>\n

There have been more examples like that in recent years, which makes Hamilton\u2019s Sunday penalty<\/a> particular in the sense that the stewards only announced their decision after the race.<\/p>\n

What did Hamilton do wrong?<\/p>\n

Essentially, Hamilton was penalised for going too fast during his reconnaissance laps \u2013 particularly in the last corner, the banked section leading to the starting grid. Due to the nature of the track, before the event the race director Rui Marques informed drivers \u2013 and teams via his official notes, issued ahead of each weekend \u2013 that during the pre-race procedures the light panel 18, located next to the exit of the last corner, would be showing a double-yellow signal. That meant drivers needed to slow down significantly and be ready to stop, as the rules specify.<\/p>\n

According to the stewards\u2019 decision document, Hamilton did reduce his speed by around 20kph compared to practice laps \u2013 but that wasn\u2019t considered enough. Additionally, he was found in breach of Article 44.1, which “requires all drivers covering more than one reconnaissance lap to drive down the pit entry road” at “greatly reduced speed”.<\/p>\n

The stewards noted Hamilton reduced his throttle application by only 10\u201320% and braked 70 metres earlier \u2013 which they judged as not sufficient.<\/p>\n

\"Lewis <\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari<\/p>\n

Photo by: John Thys \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Yet these incidents occurred more than half an hour before the start \u2013 and in theory, there was time to make a decision. Had that happened, Hamilton would most likely have received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty, which is the sanction recommended in the penalty guidelines that the FIA made public earlier this year for transparency.<\/p>\n

That penalty is exactly what is “prescribed” for drivers ignoring double-yellow flag signals \u2013 which was the very offence Hamilton was investigated for, even if it happened during the pre-race procedure.<\/p>\n

Why was the penalty not immediate?<\/p>\n

The intriguing question is why the stewards waited until after the race to make their ruling.<\/p>\n

In their official document, the stewards in Zandvoort \u2013 Nish Shetty, Matthew Selley, Natalie Corsmit and former F1 driver Pedro Lamy<\/a> \u2013 explained: “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.”<\/p>\n

It appears the stewards simply didn\u2019t have enough information at the time \u2013 and Ferrari<\/a>\u2019s communication contradicted the FIA\u2019s initial data.<\/p>\n

So, instead of issuing Hamilton a 10-second stop-and-go penalty, which would have had to be served shortly after the race start and would have ended any chance of a result, they decided to wait until after the grand prix to hear from the team engineers and examine their data.<\/p>\n

\"Lewis <\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari crash<\/p>\n

Photo by: Gabriele Lanzo \/ Alessio Morgese \/ NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ferrari was summoned at 17:05 local time, about half an hour after the chequered flag. Only then did the stewards feel they had enough information to make their decision. Instead of applying the full penalty, they considered “mitigating circumstances” \u2013 namely, that Hamilton did slow down, even if not enough.<\/p>\n

Normally, when a driver cannot serve a stop-and-go, it is converted into a 10-place grid drop, according to the same FIA guidelines. But in this case the stewards reduced it to five places. Hamilton also received “only” two penalty points on his licence, instead of the usual three for such an offence.<\/p>\n

The downside of the delayed decision is clear: had Hamilton been given the penalty during the race at Zandvoort, it would not have changed his result. Now, however, his Monza weekend \u2013 his first with Ferrari \u2013 will be compromised.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

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