Lewis Hamilton was “shocked” to discover he had a “pretty hardcore” penalty for his first Italian Grand Prix at Monza with Ferrari, as his first year with the team continues to be emotionally “volatile”.
Hamilton was given a five-place grid drop and two penalty points on his licence for failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags on a reconnaissance lap during the build-up to the Dutch GP last Sunday.
The seven-time world champion returned to the pitlane during the laps to the grid at near racing speed, slowing by only 20km/h despite double-waved yellow flags being used for safety reasons given the proximity of the banked final corner to the grid.
Hamilton’s incident was not investigated until after the grand prix, though, and his punishment was not determined until Sunday evening.
Speaking at Monza on Thursday, Hamilton said: “I landed back home and then saw that I got this penalty and I was really, really shocked to be honest.
“It's obviously not black and white. If you look at the report, I did lift, but to their liking, not enough.
“To get the penalty and get penalty points was pretty hardcore. But I learned from it and there's no point whinging about it.
“It's going to be challenging this weekend. Qualifying, it's already so close between us all, just getting the Q3 is tough. Getting in the top five is very, very tough.
“And then on top of that, to then be set back five places is not great when you're going into your first Monza GP with Ferrari, but it gives me more to fight for.
“And I'm very motivated to make up those places.”
While Hamilton has already experienced one home race for Ferrari this year, the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola, Monza remains a unique event.
Hamilton joined a major Ferrari fan celebration in Milan in the build-up to the grand prix and the contrast between the on-track results and the sentiment being expressed off-track remains quite stark.
He described the last six months as an “emotional rollercoaster” and that he did not expect it to be as “volatile in terms of the feeling”.
“There's been a lot of adjustment, both from my side and my team's side, Ferrari's side,” he said. “They really moved heaven and Earth to accommodate me.
“Obviously, there's the culture differences; Fred [Vasseur] made a comment, probably they perhaps underestimated me joining the team; the year that we've been faced with in terms of the problems that we face with the car.
“The harder it is, the better it can make you. And I think this year has been tough for everyone within the team, but it really prepares us for better days and I think we'll be stronger having gone through this tough first six months.
“I'm really, really excited and motivated for a positive uphill battle from here, but I feel like I've got the best people around me to do that.”
Zandvoort crash details revealed
Hamilton crashed out the Zandvoort race while running seventh, while team-mate Charles Leclerc was taken out by Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli.
The shunt was a rare error from Hamilton, who has now revealed more details about what caused it.
“It's unusual for me because I don't really make a lot of mistakes in races like that,” he said.
“But the great thing is that the team remains really, really positive. They're incredibly supportive every single weekend.
“Even though personally you don't feel great about it, they lift your spirits. And then the following days, they were deep diving into trying to understand what led to it because it wasn't a case of me, it wasn't a case of a lack of concentration. There were several things that contributed to it.
“So, for example, I had a downgraded upshift which locked the rear wheels and spat the rear end out. But also it was spitting, I was like 10cm wider than I was the previous lap.
“So there are a combination of things. Either way it's not great and I learn from it and move forward. If I apply that same approach this weekend to the following races I really feel positive of the direction we go.”
Hamilton’s optimism is consistent with what he said on Sunday in the Netherlands.
While the likelihood of Leclerc repeating his 2024 Monza win for Ferrari seems low given McLaren’s domination of the current season, Hamilton believes some behind-the-scenes learnings at Zandvoort will at least allow the team to have a competitive weekend here.
“Throughout the weekend, I think the approach that we had was spot on,” he said.
“I felt like it was one of our strongest, if not the strongest and smoothest weekends up until obviously Sunday that we had had.”
