Lewis Hamilton told he doesn’t have ‘a leg to stand on’ despite ‘painful’ blow for Monza

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Ferrari suffered a double DNF in the 2025 F1 Dutch Grand Prix and will travel home to Monza with another “painful” blow awaiting Lewis Hamilton at the Italian Grand Prix.

The European leg of the 2025 F1 season will conclude this weekend at Monza, with the 76th edition of the Italian GP waving Formula 1 farewell before its final flyaways. It is also the first Italian GP that Hamilton, who boasts five career wins at Monza, will enjoy as a Ferrari driver.

But the 40-year-old also goes to Monza on the back of retiring from a Grand Prix for the first time in red during the Dutch GP on Sunday. Hamilton crashed out of the Dutch GP on Lap 23 of 72, as his car kicked out on the damp, painted advertisement bordering Hugenholtzbocht.

Teammate Charles Leclerc, who won the 2024 Italian GP, also returns to Monza after retiring at Zandvoort on Sunday. Mercedes’ Italian rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashed into Leclerc in the Dutch GP, as the 19-year-old misjudged a chance to overtake the Monegasque at T3.

Lewis Hamilton does not have ‘a leg to stand on’ for his Dutch GP yellow flag infringement

But another “painful” blow awaits Hamilton at Monza, as the seven-time F1 champion must serve a five-place grid penalty in the Italian GP after failing to slow for double-waved yellow flags before the Dutch GP. And Jolyon Palmer feels Hamilton has no defence for the penalty.

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Hamilton drew a five-place grid penalty for the Italian GP as the FIA’s stewards at Zandvoort only investigated the Ferrari driver after the Dutch GP over not respecting the double-waved yellow flags when he wrongfully practised attacking the pit entry with personnel on the grid.

“The drivers were warned about this,” Palmer said in his F1 TV analysis. “You’ve got a yellow flag on the outside and then you’ve got even more critically a flashing panel coming through the final corner. You pretty much can’t miss that as you’re coming in, but Lewis stays pinned.

“The drivers want to get a gauge for how quickly they can attack the pit speed limit line, but it’s just dangerous to do on this circuit. It’s narrow, and you’ve got all of the people coming onto the grid. These people are just metres away from Hamilton, who’s flying in.

“This is not the behaviour that you should have under double-waved yellows. So, Hamilton really without a leg to stand on at that point.”

Lewis Hamilton’s grid penalty carrying over from Zandvoort to Monza is ‘even more painful’

But while Palmer feels Hamilton has no defence for his penalty picked up at Zandvoort for a yellow flag infringement, it is “even more painful” for the Ferrari driver that the stewards did not issue their verdict during the Dutch GP. So, Hamilton has to serve the penalty at Monza.

The FIA’s stewards decided early on to delay investigating Hamilton until after the Dutch GP, despite his incident occurring before the race started. So, the 40-year-old must take his pain at Monza, despite it being a clear-cut case that should have been dealt with in the Dutch GP.

Palmer added: “Lewis quite clearly blasting past those yellow flags, and that is going to be an infringement on safety grounds.

“The unfortunate thing really for him is that he didn’t get that penalty during the race. Had he got that, it would have been a severe penalty [and] it would have cost him the Dutch Grand Prix. But, of course for Hamilton, he ended up crashing out, anyway.

“Having a grid penalty in a Ferrari at Monza is just going to be that much more painful. So, the stewards waiting ‘til after the race to look at that has ended up being even more painful for Lewis Hamilton.”