(BBC) – LEWIS Hamilton has been handed a five-place grid penalty for Ferrari’s home race in Italy next weekend, after failing to slow under double yellow flags before the start of the Dutch Grand Prix.
It capped a miserable weekend overall for the Italian team, who watched both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc crash out of the race in separate incidents.
Hamilton did not follow the race directors’ pre-race instructions given to all drivers, asking them to reduce their speed sufficiently at the pit entry to ensure the safety of people on the grid and in the pit lane.
The penalty would normally have been a 10-place grid drop, but the stewards acknowledged Hamilton did try to slow down and brake earlier.
It means the Briton will start no higher than sixth in his maiden race at Monza as a Ferrari driver.
Ferrari has to ‘stay calm’ this season
Following Ferrari’s difficult time in Zandvoort, team principal, Fred Vasseur, said they have to “stay calm” for the remainder of the season.
Both Hamilton and Leclerc came away from round 14 with zero points, and while the Scuderia are still second in the constructors’ championship, Mercedes in third have narrowed the gap to just 12 points thanks to George Russell’s fourth-placed finish.
Hamilton was first to retire from the race, crashing into the wall from seventh position following a moment of oversteer at Turn Three when light rain was falling on the track. He told BBC Radio 5 Live he was “not really sure” what happened but “I couldn’t recover it”.
Meanwhile, Leclerc was the innocent party as the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli made a move on the opposite side of the same corner and took the Monegasque out.
Leclerc, who was left stranded on a hill until the race had finished, said the Italian rookie did apologise for his mistake, but he told Sky Sports: “It ruined my race, it is a shame but it is the way it is.”