Lewis Hamilton offered lifeline after late FIA penalty announcement

As soon as Lewis Hamilton’s penalty was announced by the FIA for Monza you could hear the collective groan from the F1 fanbase.

Really? Hasn’t Hamilton suffered enough this year? On top of that, he has to serve a five-place grid drop at Ferrari’s home race amongst the throngs of tifosi! You couldn’t imagine a worse trajectory.

While Monza has a nice long straight to overtake on, it’s not an ideal location to take a grid drop, especially when you’re in a car that is always on the cusp of being knocked out in Q2.

So, even before we rolled into the Italian GP race week, fans had resigned themselves to another difficult weekend for Hamilton, with all hope of a miracle at Monza dashed by the penalty.

With expectations so low however, Hamilton has been granted a lifeline that could transform his Italian Grand Prix prospects.

How Hamilton’s Monza grid drop could be a positive

Undoubtedly, there would have been immense pressure for Hamilton to achieve his first podium with Ferrari at Monza, even if it isn't realistic. Who wouldn’t want to see him lift the trophy towards the sea of adoring fans?

Now the champion has been given a grid drop however, this fantasy has fully dissipated. And so too has the weight of expectation on Hamilton’s shoulders.

At Monza this weekend, Hamilton is free to do exactly what he says he wants to do in a F1 car - to have some fun. He can soak up the atmosphere of the tifosi without worrying where he will finish or whether he will disappoint them. The grid penalty has helped alleviate these worries, because, realistically, it’s going to be a mediocre finish.

This only frees up Hamilton, and allows him to tap into that natural ability that has been stagnant at Ferrari. And if he can’t do that, who cares? He has to fight his way up the grid regardless. No one expects the Hamilton of old to magically appear and win the race after all. We’re now much too jaded for all of that!

Instead, the Brit can quietly work away and his performance in Monza will be examined with the caveat ‘oh, but he had a grid penalty’. The race will just be a blip in the wider narrative of the season, rather than heightened anticipation only to be met with bitter disappointment.

Hamilton’s attitude at Zandvoort also tells us he’ll take the Monza weekend in his stride, embrace the ebbs and flows as he did with his crash during Sunday’s grand prix.

“I’m fine, I feel fine mentally, I’ve felt lots of positives,” he said to the media in Zandvoort.

“I felt I was making progress, I was catching the car ahead. It’s tough to have a result like that but I’ve been racing for so long I’ve had God knows how many races and you can probably count on one hand that sort of incident.”

Hamilton’s Italian GP penalty is just another disappointment in 2025 to shrug off and learn from. There will undoubtedly be more in the second half of the season. But instead of bemoaning his fate, Hamilton is now at a point where he is accepting the negatives.

Anything positive in the 2025 season is a bonus for Hamilton, and if that means a recovery drive into the points where he felt somewhat comfortable in the car, that is a win compared to the rest of the year.

F1 HEADLINES: McLaren endure Zandvoort suckerpunch as star driver hit with Italian GP penalty

F1 RESULTS: McLaren disaster hands shock podium to star at Dutch GP

READ MORE: FIA announce early Hamilton PENALTY for next race

READ MORE: FIA issue Max Verstappen penalty verdict at Dutch GP

Related