Lewis Hamilton explains why he was ‘really shocked’ by his Italian Grand Prix grid penalty

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Lewis Hamilton will have to start his first Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari from five places further back on the grid than he would like.

The Briton was handed a five-place grid penalty as a result of a double-waved yellow flag violation before the start of the Dutch Grand Prix.

Hamilton now holds the Ferrari record for the most races without a podium in red, which is a streak he would love to end at Monza of all places.

He seems destined to finish sixth in the drivers’ championship, with daylight between himself and the positions around him. For 2026, he will expect a significant improvement.

Hamilton has issued an ‘incredible’ rallying cry to the Tifosi ahead of the 16th race of the season. There’s still a lot on the line this season, with second in the constructors’ up for grabs.

After crashing at the Dutch Grand Prix, Robert Doornbos saw a worrying sign from Hamilton. He needs to have a clean weekend more than ever.

READ MORE: Ferrari told two drivers would have done a ‘better job’ than Lewis Hamilton next to Charles Leclerc

Lewis Hamilton explains why he was ‘really shocked’ by his Italian Grand Prix grid penalty

Hamilton is helping Charles Leclerc behind the scenes, but his teammate has had the measure of him for the majority of the campaign.

He has a handful of podiums, which must be leaving the seven-time champion wondering what exactly he is doing wrong.

Speaking in the official pre-race press conference for the Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton shared his shock at receiving a grid penalty ahead of the weekend.

“I landed back home and then saw that I got this penalty, and I was really, really shocked to be honest,” he said. “It is what it is. It’s obviously not black and white. The fact is, if you look at the report, I did lift, but to their liking, not enough,” he said.

“To get the penalty and get penalty points is pretty hardcore, but I’ll learn from it. There’s no point whinging about it, I’ll just move forward. It’s going to be challenging this weekend.

“Qualifying is already so close between us all, so just getting into 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.”

READ MORE: ‘Everyone’ at Ferrari is ‘convinced’ about what Lewis Hamilton could do at Monza but no one ‘dares’ admit it

Why Lewis Hamilton’s Monza grid penalty just exposed a major problem with modern Formula 1

Hamilton’s penalty incident happened around 30 minutes before the start of last Sunday’s race in Zandvoort.

In other words, there should have been plenty of time (more than two hours) for the FIA stewards to make a decision on his fate before the end of the race.

Instead, they took their time, and as a result, it’s going to have a knock-on effect on his first Italian Grand Prix in red, which feels unfair.

Most fans had left the track by the time they found out about the punishment, and it highlights exactly why a better and more efficient job must be done when it comes to handing out penalties.

It did show that even though Hamilton is the cleanest driver in Formula 1, he can be prone to the odd mistake.