Lewis Hamilton hit with grid drop as Norris and Verstappen learn Dutch GP fate

The race had not even gotten underway at the Dutch Grand Prix before the FIA stewards sprung into action. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were among those involved.

Hamilton was the driver to find himself officially under investigation, in regards to potentially failing to slow under yellow flags during the laps to the grid. It was investigated after the race, and the result was a five-place grid penalty for Monza.

Lewis Hamilton grid drop, Verstappen and Norris cleared

Elsewhere, two of the the grid’s top three, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, were among the drivers to have been noted for potentially exceeding the maximum delta time.

Also caught up in that potential infringement were Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg.

The stewards later confirmed that no further action would be taken against Norris or Verstappen.

As for Hamilton, his nightmare Dutch Grand Prix is further compounded by the fact he now takes a five-place grid penalty into the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari’s home race.

Hamilton crashed out of the Dutch GP, crunching his Ferrari against the barriers at the banked Turn 3.

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The penalty verdict reads: “The stewards heard from the driver of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence.

“Due to the nature of the track, the Race Director had informed all participants that the last corner before the pit lane would have double yellow flags waved. This was to ensure the safety of those on the grid and in the pit lane.

“The regulations require that any driver passing through a double waved yellow flag marshalling sector ‘reduce speed significantly…’. We looked through the available telemetry within the FIA system. We also requested the team to provide us with their telemetry data. All of this took some time and this decision was delayed as a result.

“In addition, Article 44.1 requires all drivers covering more than one reconnaissance lap to drive down the pit entry road at ‘greatly reduced speed’. The data showed that the driver had entered the double yellow sector approximately 20kph less than his speed at the same point in practice sessions, had reduced throttle application in the order of 10% to 20% and had lifted and braked 70 metres earlier when entering the pit lane.

“We did not consider that a 20kph reduction in speed at a double waved yellow sector constituted reducing speed ‘significantly’. We also did not consider the speed at which the driver entered the pit entry road as being at a ‘greatly’ reduced speed.

“The penalty guidelines for such an infringement would ordinarily attract a penalty of 10 grid positions at the next race. However, given that the driver had made an attempt to reduce his speed and to brake earlier, we took that into account as mitigating circumstances and imposed a 5 grid place penalty.”

In addition to the grid penalty, Hamilton also had two penalty points added to his Super Licence, ruining his clean record for the 12-month period.

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