Williams launches Sainz appeal; Hamilton expresses penalty ‘shock’ – round-up

Henry Valantine 04 Sep 2025 10:00 PM

F1 news: Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz at Monza.

Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz are among those to feature in Thursday's F1 news.

Your Thursday F1 news round-up has arrived, with plenty to dig into as media day took place at Monza ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

The Ferrari duo took in an appearance in Milan on Wednesday in front of thousands of tifosi in attendance, but it was straight back to business as the drivers look ahead to one of the most historic races on the Formula 1 calendar. With additional reporting from Thomas Maher on the ground at Monza, let’s take a look.

F1 news: Lewis Hamilton admits ‘shock’ at Dutch GP penalty

Unfortunately for Lewis Hamilton, he will have a hurdle to overcome on Sunday after a five-place grid penalty was handed to him following the Dutch Grand Prix for failing to slow for yellow flags on a reconnaissance lap.

“It’s obviously not black and white,” Hamilton said. “The fact is, if you look at the report, I did lift, but to their liking, not enough. That’s why I guess they’re saying not more.

“To get the penalty and get penalty points was pretty hardcore, but I learned from it, and there’s no point whinging about it. I’ll move forwards.”

Williams submits right of review over Carlos Sainz penalty

Williams confirmed the team is looking for a right of review into Carlos Sainz’s penalty for contact with Liam Lawson at Zandvoort, believing Sainz to be an innocent party in the move.

Sainz himself remained frustrated at the punishment handed his way from the weekend, saying in the pre-race press conference: “I had the opportunity to go and sit with [the stewards] for 15 minutes to analyse the incident.

“It was very clear to me that as soon as they got all the evidence right and they looked at the places that they would have needed to look at to take the right decision, it was very clear to me that I think they realised that probably the decision taken wasn’t the best one.

“Now, we are trying to see if we can come up with enough evidence to realise if we can change the outcome of the penalty, because I still firmly believe it was a very poor penalty that I received in a bad judgment – which can happen, as long as you have the capacity to revisit it.

The Isack Hadjar trophy update we’ve all been waiting for

Isack Hadjar admitted he does not know the current location of his broken Dutch Grand Prix, but knows it is in good hands with his Racing Bulls team.

While the trophy manufacturer has confirmed he will receive a new one after his original one split in two (which he will also be able to keep), the French driver said the broken one will already hold many more memories for him.

“You know, where is the broken one? That’s the question,” he asked while speaking in the TV pen at Monza.

“Because the new one, we don’t care about the new one, because it’s not been part of the grand prix history.”

Asked if he was “really serious”, he replied: “Yeah, actually.

“I want the broken one because it’s part of my podium journey. The new one doesn’t smell [of] alcohol, like the champagne and whatever.”

Max Verstappen opposes shorter race distances

With Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali floating the idea of shorter race distances among many other potential suggestions, Max Verstappen was one of those to speak out against the idea.

“You cannot always make it exciting, because if it’s always exciting, it becomes boring too, because then you know that a lot of changes are happening, but that’s also not always how you want to see it,” the Red Bull driver explained at Monza.

“It always needs to be a surprise. Sometimes it can be surprisingly exciting, sometimes it can be surprisingly boring.

“From my side, I’m probably more of a traditional guy. I think it’s more important that all the teams are closer, because then you get more more racing anyway.

Herta to take lesser-trodden path towards F1

Having taken nine race victories and finished as championship runner-up in IndyCar, Colton Herta is set to take part in the 2026 Formula 2 season.

The American signed as Cadillac’s test driver in Formula 1, and with the 25-year-old needing FIA Super Licence points to qualify to race in F1 in future, the best place for that is F2, with the top three in the standings all receiving the 40 points needed in one go to race a Formula 1 car.

“I’m confident Colton will get his shot, but he’s got to earn it, right? He’s taking that risk,” said Towriss on the topic as he appeared on the Off Track podcast.

“He’s going to be going into F2. He’s got to learn tracks. He’s got to learn tyres. Tyres are a big part of that, very different from IndyCar from that standpoint, and so I just couldn’t be more proud of Colton to be willing to take that risk, to pursue his dream.”

Carlos Sainz Lewis Hamilton