Headline: Hamilton hit with five-place grid drop for first Monza in Ferrari red
Lewis Hamilton will have to do it the hard way in front of the tifosi. The seven-time World Champion has been handed a five-place grid penalty for the Italian Grand Prix after the stewards ruled he failed to slow sufficiently under yellow flags on his reconnaissance lap to the grid at Zandvoort. Two penalty points have also gone on his super licence.
On the eve of his first Monza weekend as a Ferrari driver, the timing couldn’t be much worse. Hamilton admitted he was blindsided by the decision, which was confirmed after he’d already flown home from the Netherlands.
“I landed back home and then saw that I got this penalty, and I was really, really shocked, to be honest,” he said in Thursday’s media session. “It’s obviously not black and white. If you look at the report, I did lift — just not enough to their liking. To get the penalty and get penalty points was pretty hardcore, but I’ve learned from it. No point whinging. I’ll move forward.”
That forward motion is going to require a lot of passing on Sunday. Monza’s slipstream trains can be a blessing or a bottleneck, and Hamilton knows the qualifying knife-edge won’t offer much margin before the penalty even bites.
“Qualifying is already so close between us all, so just getting into Q3 is tough. Getting in the top five is very, very tough,” he said. “And then on top of that, to be set back five places isn’t great when you’re going into your first Monza GP with Ferrari. But you know, it gives me more to fight for, and I’m very motivated to make up those places regardless.”
Ferrari’s newest star arrived in Lombardy fresh from a midweek stop in Milan alongside Charles Leclerc, soaking in the kind of street-level adoration only this team seems to summon in Italy. He called it a “unique experience” — a prelude to the main event around the old Royal Park, where Ferrari’s slightest success lands like a civic holiday and the smallest misstep echoes all the way down Viale Enzo Ferrari.
The stewarding theme loomed large across the press conference, too. Carlos Sainz aired his hope of having his own Zandvoort penalty looked at again after a 10-second hit for contact with Liam Lawson. It added another layer to a weekend where driving standards and consistency were as prominent as slipstream tactics and brake temps.
For Hamilton, the equation is simple: put the car in the best possible spot on Saturday and let race craft and strategy do the rest. A five-place drop at Monza doesn’t have to be fatal. Start P3? You’re P8, staring at a long run to Turn 1 with a tow to grab. Start P7? You’re P12, on the cusp of chaos but with clean air options and undercut windows to play with. Ferrari will have to be sharp on timing and brave on calls.
Hamilton’s mood matched that plan — frustrated but flinty. “It’s going to be challenging this weekend,” he said. “But it gives me more to fight for.”
Monza has a way of testing nerves and turning setbacks into storylines. If Hamilton wanted a stress-free first dance in scarlet at the Temple of Speed, that ship has sailed. What he does have, though, is a grandstand full of believers and 53 laps to make it noisy.
