Lewis Hamilton Slapped With Grid Penalty After Dutch Qualifying Blunder

Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton has been penalized post-qualifying due to an incident involving Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez.

The stewards imposed a three-place grid penalty on the British driver for impeding Perez during Q1 of the qualifying session.

Hamilton was found to have unnecessarily blocked Perez at Turn 9. This breach led to an inquiry by the race stewards, who concluded that Hamilton violated Article 37.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

The official statement from the FIA Stewards explained:

“Fact: Car 44 unnecessarily impeded Car 11 in turn 9.

“Infringement: Breach of Article 37.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

“Decision: Drop of 3 grid positions for the next Race in which the driver participates.

“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 11 (Sergio Perez), the driver of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence.

“The driver of Car 44, being on an in lap, was informed by the team that Car 11 was approaching on a fast lap when he entered Turn 8. He then drove off line at the exit of Turn 8 with the intention to give way for Car 11. However, when Car 11 arrived, Car 44 had already entered Turn 9 and drove back towards the racing line at the exit of Turn 9, thereby clearly impeding Car 11.

“The Stewards determine that, whilst there has been appropriate warning by the team and albeit the driver tried to move out of the way, he could have slowed down more in order not to impede the other car and therefore consider the impeding to be unnecessary in the sense of the regulations. Therefore a grid drop is applied in line with previous decisions.”

Consequently, Hamilton, who had originally qualified in 12th place at the Dutch GP, was moved down to 15th. However, Williams driver Alex Albon has since been disqualified from the Qualifying session which will mean Hamilton will now start the race from 14th.

McLaren’s Lando Norris secured the pole position followed by home hero Max Verstappen and Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri, who will start from second and third position, respectively. Rounding up the top 4 is Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell.

2024 Dutch GP Starting Grid

(After penalties applied)

1. Lando Norris
2. Max Verstappen
3. Oscar Piastri
4. George Russell
5. Sergio Perez
6. Charles Leclerc
7. Fernando Alonso
8. Lance Stroll
9. Pierre Gasly
10. Carlos Sainz
11. Yuki Tsunoda
12. Nico Hulkenberg
13. Kevin Magnussen
14. Lewis Hamilton
15. Daniel Ricciardo
16. Esteban Ocon
17. Valtteri Bottas
18. Zhou Guanyu
19. Logan Sargeant – No time
20. Alex Albon – Disqualified