FIA stewards deemed that the Ferrari driver had impeded Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during Q1. The incident at Massenet forced Verstappen to change his line.
Hamilton was caught off guard by Verstappen’s sudden approach having been informed by the team that the four-time champion was slowing.
“You said he was slowing down, for f*** sake, man,” said Hamilton.
Despite being baulked, the Dutch driver was able to progress to Q2 with Hamilton. The Brit went on to qualify fourth while Verstappen was fifth by the end of Q3. However, the penalty drops the seven-time F1 champion to seventh.
Verstappen will start fourth while Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso move up to fifth and sixth respectively.
The stewards’ decision document read: “Car 44 (Hamilton) was on a slow lap and off the racing line as he was approaching Turn 2. Car 1 (Verstappen) 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 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 three grid positions.”
The moment that caused Lewis Hamilton to be handed a three-place grid penalty 😮#F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/ciUawygAX5
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 24, 2025
Hamilton said it had been a “demanding” Saturday during which he crashed in the third practice session, forcing the team to re-built his SF-25.
“I’m incredibly grateful to the team for getting the car back out after FP3, their effort was outstanding,” said Hamilton.
“We got the most out of qualifying today. Obviously, I’m disappointed with the final starting grid position, as I’ve been pleased with how the car has felt all weekend and the steps we’ve made.
“The two-stop strategy will definitely add an extra layer of complexity to the race, but that also opens up opportunities. The goal is to keep pushing and fight for a strong result.”
Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc fell short of pole position, coming within a few hundredths of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
The Monegasque topped all three practice sessions before being pipped at the post in Q3 of qualifying.
“Our expectations for this weekend weren’t particularly high, so finishing at the top of the FPs was a positive sign. Unfortunately, this brings some disappointment with it, not having taken pole today,” said Leclerc.
“It should be an interesting race tomorrow. There will be strategic games between the teams with the mandatory two-stop, and it’s possible that we will find some cars from further down the grid in the mix, so it should be exciting and I can’t wait to race on my home streets again.”
The Monaco Grand Prix gets underway at 11:00pm AEST.
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