Hamilton hit with grid penalty at Dutch Grand Prix

Busy afternoon for the stewards at Zandvoort with two major penalties affecting Sunday’s grid. Lewis Hamilton received a three-place penalty for impeding Sergio Perez during Q1, having qualified 12th and will ultimately start 14th.

Stewards understood that the Englishman had been warned of Checo’s arrival and had moved aside at the exit of turn eight, but by the time the Red Bull driver came at him at the entrance to turn nine the Mercedes was still there, forcing the Mexican to lift off. Perez will start sixth but it is difficult for Hamilton to finish on a podium from which he has practically not left since June.

Hamilton summoned by Stewards for blocking Perez

The official statement read: “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”.

Albon excluded from qualifying

Alex Albon was also disqualified for technical irregularities on his Williams. The flat floor of the FW46, which was being tested for the first time this weekend, failed scrutiny by Jo Bauer’s team. Stewards then confirmed the disqualification, as this type of infringement is hardly a grey area.

The team did not question the FIA stewards’ measures, although they did say that their own measurements were different. In recent cases, the FIA has allowed drivers in similar situations to start from the back of the grid (once the infringement has been resolved), so it is understood that Albon will be able to start the Dutch GP.

Sargeant’s car up in flames

Logan Sargeant will also be able to take part, but he did not make it to Q1 because after his car crashed and caught fire in Free Practice 3, there was no time for the mechanics to repair and rebuild the car before qualifying. Stewards accepted that the Williams driver had completed valid laps (within 107% of pole position) and will allow the car to start last or from the pit lane.

In any case, the weekend for the Oxford team is going to be very uphill a few weeks after the joy they had at signing Carlos Sainz. Although Albon had been quite competitive until now (he qualified eighth, just behind Alonso, before the disqualification), they are taking home a heavy price from Zandvoort for Sargeant’s accident and the toughest penalty a team can receive.

Although it is not the toughest blow they have received so far in 2024 *- in Australia they were only able to race with one car because after a hard crash for Albon in free practice, they did not have a spare chassis.