Lance Stroll hit by DOUBLE FIA penalty at Monaco Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton confusion

Lance Stroll, Lewis Hamilton — Photo: © IMAGO

Monaco Grand Prix

Lance Stroll hit by DOUBLE FIA penalty at Monaco Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton confusion

Lance Stroll had already been given a penalty

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Sunday 25 May 2025 09:57

Aston Martin F1 star Lance Stroll has been given yet another penalty, following on from a grid drop he was given during practice for the Monaco Grand Prix.

That one-place grid penalty would not have made too much difference for the Canadian racer, but was given out after he had blocked the path of Charles Leclerc during FP1, causing the Monegasque driver to slam into the back of him.

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Now, however, that one-place grid drop has become a four-place grid penalty, following another impeding incident during Monaco GP qualifying.

The FIA announced in an official statement that Stroll was to be given a further three-place penalty after he was adjudged to have blocked Pierre Gasly during the first part of qualifying, with the Frenchman left completely bereft by the actions of the Aston Martin driver.

Lewis Hamilton confusion

Stroll admitted that he was confused as to who was behind him, mistakenly thinking it was just Lewis Hamilton a slow lap.

"The driver of Car 18 assumed wrongly that there was only one car to be let by and when Car 44 (which was not on a fast lap) went by him, he moved back to the racing line thereby impeding Car 10 which was on a fast lap," a statement from the stewards read.

"During the hearing, the driver of Car 18 stated that he could not tell the colour of the car that had overtaken him because of the position of the sun, which we accepted.

"He therefore wrongly assumed that there was no other car to be let by. In the circumstances, we imposed the usual penalty of a drop of three grid positions."

Following a poor qualifying performance, Stroll will start the race right from the back of the grid, having qualified down in 19th, only ahead of Alpine star Franco Colapinto.

Stroll's misery continues

After the incident with Leclerc just 10 minutes into the first session of the weekend, Stroll's team had to work hard to fix his car up, following heavy damage to his gearbox and rear suspension.

That damage meant that he was ruled completely out of FP1, meaning an hour less of practice compared to his rivals at a circuit that offers completely different challenges to any other circuit on the F1 calendar.

No damage was caused to Gasly's car by the incident, but he was knocked out in Q1 along with Stroll, Colapinto, Ollie Bearman and Gabriel Bortoleto. The Frenchman will start the race down in 18th.

Stroll will be starting right at the back of the pack, while his team-mate Fernando Alonso managed to put himself all the way up in seventh for Sunday's race, converted to sixth after a late penalty for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton FIA Aston Martin Charles Leclerc Lance Stroll Monaco Grand Prix