Hamilton given three-place grid penalty for impeding Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton has been demoted from fourth on the grid at the Monaco Grand Prix as a result of a three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen.

Verstappen was on a flying lap in Q1 when he found Hamilton on the racing line at Massanet, forcing the Red Bull driver to abort his lap. Radio messages played out at the time revealed that Hamilton had been informed about Verstappen approaching but was then incorrectly told he had slowed, leading to the incident as the Dutchman had to take avoiding action.

The stewards deemed it a clear case of impeding after reviewing Verstappen’s regular racing line through that corner, and gave Hamilton a three-place grid drop that will now see him start from seventh on Sunday.

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“Car 44 was on a slow lap and off the racing line as he was approaching Turn 2,” the stewards explained. “Car 1 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.

“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.

“The driver of Car 44 expressed his displeasure at the incorrect message from the team immediately after the incident.

“During the hearing, the fact of the team’s incorrect message leading to the incident was accepted by the driver of Car 44.

“As with previous incidents of this nature where a driver has received inaccurate or incomplete information resulting in a car impeding another, the fact that the radio message was the cause of the impeding does not amount to a mitigating factor.”

With Hamilton dropping to seventh place, Verstappen is promoted to fourth on the grid, with Isack Hadjar now set to start from fifth ahead of Fernando Alonso in sixth.

Lance Stroll was also given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Pierre Gasly at the Nouvelle Chicane in Q1, although it will not affect his starting position as he was already due to start 19th, with Oliver Bearman in 20th receiving a 10-place penalty for a red flag infringement on Friday.