Hamilton hit with grid penalty before first Monza race as Ferrari driver

Lewis Hamilton will serve a five-place grid penalty at Ferrari’s home Italian Grand Prix in Monza next weekend after failing to slow for warning flags at Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.

The sanction capped a miserable weekend for Formula One’s oldest team, which left the Netherlands empty-handed after both Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc crashed out. Ferrari remains second in the standings but now trails runaway leader McLaren by 324 points.

For Hamilton, it was his first non-finish since joining Ferrari from Mercedes in January. The seven-time world champion, still chasing a first podium for his new team after 15 races, lost control at the banked turn three on lap 23 while running seventh. He hit the barriers, triggering a safety car.

“As I went up the bank, the rear snapped out and I couldn’t recover,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “It was a bit twitchy, the car. I think we made real progress this weekend. My pace was looking pretty decent. I was catching (Mercedes’) George (Russell) and I think I had the pace of a few cars ahead of me.”

The 40-year-old Briton has now gone two races without points, after finishing 12th in Hungary where he labelled himself “useless.” With the penalty, he cannot start higher than sixth in Monza.

Ferrari’s troubles were compounded when Leclerc, last year’s Monza winner, collided with Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli at the same corner on lap 53. Stewards blamed Antonelli, handing him a 10-second penalty.

“It was a difficult weekend all along, and it ended in the worst way,” Leclerc said. “Heading to Monza now, which is a special place for me and the whole team. I don’t think we are in the same position as last year, but we will give it everything to recover and make it a great weekend for all our tifosi at home.”

Published on Sep 01, 2025