MONACO :Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix from seventh place after being handed a three-place grid drop for impeding Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in qualifying.
Seven-times world champion Hamilton, a three-times Monaco winner, qualified fourth on Saturday but was then summoned to stewards.
They said in a statement that Ferrari told Hamilton Verstappen was on a fast lap and then that he was slowing down, when that was not the case.
Hamilton “expressed his displeasure at the incorrect message from the team immediately after the incident,” the stewards reported.
“During the hearing, the fact of the team’s incorrect message leading to the incident was accepted by the driver of Car 44 (Hamilton).”
Although the impeding was due to the team’s error, stewards said Hamilton should still be penalised.
“The fact that the radio message was the cause of the impeding does not amount to a mitigating factor,” they ruled. “We therefore impose the standard penalty of a drop of three grid positions.”
