Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari have received a three-place grid penalty for blocking Max Verstappen during qualifying for the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix. The stewards determined that the Ferrari driver acted on incorrect information from the team, accelerating and moving onto the racing line just as Max Verstappen was completing a flying lap.
The incident between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen
Hamilton was on a slow lap and off the racing line as he approached Turn 2. At that moment, Max Verstappen was rapidly approaching on a fast lap. The Ferrari team informed Lewis Hamilton that Max Verstappen was on a push lap but then shortly after added via radio that he was “slowing down,” a message that turned out to be incorrect.
This caused Hamilton to rejoin the racing line at Turn 3, trying to get out of the way ahead of Verstappen’s arrival, but this forced the Dutchman off the ideal line and led him to abort his attempt.
The FIA’s verdict and Lewis Hamilton’s reaction
“Car 44 did in fact enter the racing line that Car 1 used in previous push laps. This put it beyond doubt that Car 1 was impeded,” the stewards’ document states.
Lewis Hamilton voiced frustration over the team’s error immediately after the incident, but the FIA clarified that a misleading radio message cannot be considered a mitigating factor. In similar cases, incomplete information from the team does not exempt the driver from responsibility.
Standard penalty and grid consequences
The stewards—Nish Shetty, Loïc Bacquelaine, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Jean-François Calmes—therefore issued the standard three-place grid drop for the next race Lewis Hamilton will participate in. This could have a major impact on Ferrari’s result in Monaco, given the historic difficulties of overtaking on the Monte Carlo circuit.
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