Explained: Why Lewis Hamilton was given a 5-place grid penalty for the F1 Italian GP

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton was given a five-place grid penalty for the upcoming 2025 Italian Grand Prix this weekend. The seven-time F1 world champion had a more positive weekend overall at the recently concluded Dutch Grand Prix before crashing out of the race.

The 40-year-old looked much closer to his teammate Charles Leclerc's performance over one lap and race distance as he was able to keep up with the Monegasque driver and was even slightly better than him on some occasions.

However, for all his efforts, the Brit had nothing to show for it at the end as he crashed out of the race after making an error on the Turn 3 banking at the iconic Zandvoort circuit on Sunday, August 31.

To make matters worse, Lewis Hamilton was given a five-place penalty after the race, which he will serve in Monza, as he failed to slow down for the double-waved yellow flags on the pre-race reconnaissance laps. In their ruling, the FIA stewards believed that the Ferrari driver did not slow down enough around the Turn 14 baned corner heading onto the grid.

The stewards claimed that the nature of the track, which merges the banking with the start/finish straight and the pit lane road, required Lewis Hamilton to slow down much more significantly than his reduced 20km/h.

They also revealed that the original penalty for such an offense is a 10-place grid drop for the next race, but owing to Hamilton's efforts to reduce speed, the margin was reduced to five places.

Lewis Hamilton reflects on his crash in the Dutch GP

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton stated that it was very unusual for him to crash out so early from a race, as the incident was a painful one for him.

Speaking with Sky Sports following his crash, the former Mercedes driver said:

"I didn't really want the undercut necessarily, at that time. I was just saying that we would probably have to try and undercut them at some point. But it was more I wanted to go long; my tyres were still feeling good. It just took me by complete surprise. What just happened there? I lost the rear end up the bank, and that was it."

"It was a bit twitchy, the car. I think we made real progress this weekend. My pace was looking pretty decent. I was catching George, and I think I had the pace of a few cars ahead of me. Very unusual to not finish a race and to go out so early, it's definitely not great, but it is what it is."

It was a weekend to forget for Ferrari as both of its drivers failed to finish the race, and the team ended up with no points in their tally, while their closest competitor Mercedes, got 12 points owing to George Russell's P4 finish.