Lewis Hamilton disagreed with his penalty for the Italian Grand Prix. Hamilton has received a five-place grid drop for his visit to Monza as a Ferrari driver.<\/p>\n
The stewards punished the seven-time world champion for failing to adequately slow for double yellow flags before the race. They acknowledged that he had reduced his speed, but they ruled that he was still driving too fast \u2013 hence the five-place demotion rather than the customary 10. <\/p>\n
Speaking in Thursday\u2019s pre-race press conference, Hamilton said he was \u2018really shocked\u2019 by the penalty<\/a>. He called the decision \u2018hardcore\u2019.<\/p>\n Hamilton<\/a> crashed out of the race, which meant his penalty couldn\u2019t be applied in the Netherlands. The sanction comes at the worst possible time for a driver who has only scored six points in his last four starts, including Sprints.<\/p>\n Calum Nicholas says FIA punished for Lewis Hamilton for compromising \u2018safety\u2019<\/p>\n Speaking on the F1 Show this week, Calum Nicholas explained why the penalty was fully justified. Nicholas used to work as a mechanic for the Red Bull team.<\/p>\n Generally, Nicholas doesn\u2019t like the stewards distributing penalties. But he makes an exception for matters of \u2018safety\u2019.<\/p>\n As an F1 driver, Hamilton has a \u2018responsibility\u2019 to \u2018take the right precautions\u2019 to protect the crews on the grid. He was also hit with two penalty points for the incident.<\/p>\n Nicholas said: \u201cThe penalty for the pit-lane incident\u2026 I\u2019m not one for the stewards to get involved and hand out penalties, but ultimately, the one time where I\u2019m happy for the stewards to take action is when it\u2019s about safety. <\/p>\n \u201cFrom a personal point of view, I\u2019ve been a mechanic stood there at the back of the grid waiting for cars to come in. Round that last corner, you have a real responsibility to everyone stood there doing their jobs to take the right precautions. I\u2019m not surprised by the penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n Could Lewis Hamilton give Charles Leclerc a tow at the Italian Grand Prix?<\/p>\n Hamilton had gone 51 races without a penalty point<\/a> before Zandvoort, which shows that he does almost always adhere to the rules. This lapse, while slight, has significant repercussions.<\/p>\n