Lewis Hamilton receives grid penalty for Monaco GP after impeding Max Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton has been hit with a three-place grid penalty for the F1 Monaco Grand Prix after impeding Max Verstappen.

In Q1, Verstappen was blocked by Hamilton up the hill towards Massenet - the fast left-hander in the first sector. 

While both drivers made it through safely into Q2, the incident was put under investigation by race control.

After qualifying, Verstappen refused to blame Hamilton directly for the incident, stating that it was down to Ferrari's poor communication over team radio.

Hamilton was told by Ferrari race engineer that Verstappen had slowed down after being three seconds behind.

Verstappen was, in fact, on a quick lap, which was ruined by Hamilton.

Hamilton is now set to start Sunday's race from seventh on the grid following his grid penalty.

The penalty promotes Verstappen to fourth, one place behind F1 title rival Oscar Piastri.

Why was Hamilton penalised?

The stewards explained that: “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.”

Hamilton's view on the block

Speaking to media after qualifying in Monaco, where Crash.net are present in the paddock, Hamilton said: “Yeah, well, basically, there was... I don't know if there was some sort of issue with the computer screen.

“It said that Max was on the lap, and then it disappeared and said it wasn't. So that was the information they gave me. They told me he was on a lap, so I moved to the side. I was completely the other way.

“And then, I guess for them they realised he wasn't on the lap, so they told me that. And so I started to accelerate. I stayed fully to the left. And I wasn't on the racing line, but of course it was distracting for Max.”