FIA confirm Lewis Hamilton penalty ahead of Monaco Grand Prix

The FIA has confirmed that Lewis Hamilton has been given a penalty ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix after an incident involving rival Max Verstappen.

The incident in question occurred in Q1, with Verstappen forced to take evading action on a hot lap after Hamilton seemingly impeded him travelling up the hill into turn 3.

Hamilton was left angered with his race engineer Riccardo Adami, who told the Brit that Verstappen was just on a slow lap, whilst Verstappen was furious with Hamilton over his own team radio.

Both drivers were summoned to see the stewards after the session, with Hamilton ultimately handed a three-place grid drop for a breach of Article 37.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

Why has Lewis Hamilton been penalized?

Explaining the decision, the FIA said: "Car 44 was on a slow lap and off the racing line as he was approaching Turn 2. Car 1 was approaching Car 44 on a push lap. The team first informed the driver of Car 44 that Car 1 was on a fast lap."

"Then they sent another message saying that Car 1 was "slowing down" when in fact Car 1 was always on a push lap and was not slowing down as suggested by the team. This resulted in Car 44 speeding up and moving into the racing line of Car 1 entering Turn 3.

"Car 1 had to react to Car 44 appearing to move into the racing line. This meant that Car 1 had to move off the usual racing line and the push lap had to be aborted by Car 1.

"We carefully examined the racing line taken by Car 1 in previous laps at the same area and determined that Car 44 did in fact enter the racing line that Car 1 used in previous push laps. This put it beyond doubt that Car 1 was impeded.

The FIA continued: "The driver of Car 44 expressed his displeasure at the incorrect message from the team immediately after the incident.

"During the hearing, the fact of the team’s incorrect message leading to the incident was accepted by the driver of Car 44.

"As with previous incidents of this nature where a driver has received inaccurate or incomplete information resulting in a car impeding another, the fact that the radio message was the cause of the impeding does not amount to a mitigating factor.

"We therefore impose the standard penalty of a drop of 3 grid positions."

Hamilton had qualified P4 in his Ferrari, but will now drop to P7 as a result of his penalty.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari in FIA summons at Monaco Grand Prix

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