Lewis Hamilton Hit With Three-Place Grid Penalty For Monaco GP After Impeding Max Verstappen In Qualifying

Lewis Hamilton received a three -seater grid penalty for the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday after accidentally hindered Max Verstappen during the qualifications. The seven times world champion, leading for Ferrari, goes from the fourth on the seventh grid while the quadruple champion Verstappen, from Red Bull, benefits from the fifth to the fourth alongside the leader of the Oscar Piastri world championship of McLaren. His teammate McLaren Lando Norris snatched the pole position on Saturday from the local hero and the winner of last year’s race, Charles Leclerc de Ferrari, with a record lap in the last seconds of an exciting session.

The offense of Hamilton came during the first qualification session when his racing engineer Ferrari told Riccardo Adami that Verstappen approached him on a quick tower while they went up to Casino Square.

Hamilton moved to his left, but was then informed that Verstappen was on a slow tour – and changed his line which upset the Dutch who accelerated towards him.

“It’s not nice,” said Verstappen, who discussed the incident with Hamilton shortly after the session.

“The team told him that I was driving slowly when I was driving clearly quickly.

“It’s not Lewis’ fault. I’ve already talked about it. It’s the team’s mistake.”

During an eventful day, Hamilton crashed earlier at the end of the third free training triggering red flags that ended the session.

His car was rebuilt by Ferrari to participate in qualifications.

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