Why Ferrari chose not to fight Hamilton’s ‘harsh’ F1 Italian GP penalty

Wherever Lewis Hamilton qualifies on his maiden appearance for Ferrari before its home fans at the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, he will start at least five places further back.

He incurred the penalty during the run-up to last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, failing to slow down sufficiently for double waved yellow flags on a reconnaissance lap before the grid formed. The flags were not being displayed for any specific incident; drivers had been told by the race director that, owing to the nature of the track with its banked final corner, double yellows would be shown to all passing cars to ensure the safety of personnel on the grid.

Although the incident occurred 40 minutes before the race start, the stewards decided to delay investigation until after the event because of the nature of the offence and the need to source telemetry data from Ferrari as well as from the FIA systems.

“We decided to not complain about this, to not use the right of review because I think the right approach in Monza for us is to be fully focused on performance,” Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur told select media including Autosport.

“Also because five places in Monza is probably a bit less penalty than five places in Monaco or Zandvoort. But I really want to have all the team focused on this weekend, on the performance, to do our own job and not to fight about something else.”

The reasons for the delay, as cited in the stewards’ findings, were rooted in the subtlety of Hamilton’s infraction. He had slowed down for the double waved yellows, but not by enough. Establishing the facts required them to comb through more telemetry than usual in such a case.

“The data showed that the driver had entered the double yellow sector approximately 20km/h 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 pitlane,” said the stewards.

“We did not consider that a 20km/h 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.” 

Given that Hamilton had made an effort to slow down, even though this was deemed insufficient, the stewards mitigated the penalty down to five places from the standard 10.

However, there are those in the paddock who view the penalty as rather draconian, especially since Hamilton failed to finish at Zandvoort.

Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari

Photo by: John Thys / AFP via Getty Images

“I said I didn’t complain, I didn’t say that I agree [with the penalty],” said Vasseur when this was put to him.

“It felt a bit harsh, honestly, first because I think it would have made sense to put the penalty in Zandvoort, also because this happened 40 minutes before the start. Sometimes you don’t have time to react and you have to decide after, but this one was 40 minutes before the start.

“And also because it was a bit subjective. When you ask someone to slow down, it’s always subjective.

“I think in this situation it makes sense to have a clear cut – to say, ‘OK guys, you have a kind of pit limit when you are entering the grid, you have a pit limit and full stop. If someone is overspeeding, he will get the penalty.

“But to say you have to slow down and then say, ‘OK, you slowed down but not enough,’ it’s a bit harsh. I don’t want to create a mess, I want to be focused on my job. But it’s harsh.”