Lewis Hamilton Hit With Penalty For Italian Grand Prix Ferrari Debut

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton was handed a five-place grid penalty for the Italian Grand Prix for failing to slow down during double yellow flags.

Hamilton had a nightmare Dutch Grand Prix, crashing out of the race after losing control of his car once rain hit the track.

He qualified a promising seventh place, closely matching his teammate, Charles Leclerc, during qualifying, an area where the seven-time champion has struggled.

Before the race, the FIA noted Hamilton for speeding during a double yellow flag period.

The FIA stewards decided to investigate Hamilton after the race for a potential breach of the rules.

“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,” the FIA decision read.

“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.

“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…