Lewis Hamilton has addressed his incident with Max Verstappen during Formula 1 qualifying at Monaco Grand Prix, which led to a three-place grid drop for Sunday’s race. The seven-time world champion said his team mistakenly told him that Verstappen was slowing down, which prompted him to move back to the middle of the track – and impede the Red Bull driver.
Hamilton, who qualified fourth, will now start seventh after he blocked Verstappen into Massenet during Q1, causing the Dutchman to abandon his lap.
“I don’t know if there was some sort of issue with the computer screen. It said that Max was on the lap, and then it disappeared and said it wasn’t,” he explained.
“They told me he was on a lap, so I moved to the side… then they realised he wasn’t on the lap, so they told me and I started to accelerate,” he went on. “I stayed fully to the left. And I wasn’t on the racing line, but of course it was distracting for Max.”
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images
Both drivers and their team representatives were summoned by the FIA race stewards immediately after qualifying. Verstappen said he would be “surprised” if the Ferrari driver escaped without a penalty.
“Well, if you look at the history of things, yes,” Verstappen said, when asked if he was expecting a penalty for his rival, shortly before the stewards handed down their decision.
“It’s more a team’s fault, but unfortunately in qualifying of course they normally are quite strict on these things.” The four-time world champion said he had already spoken to Hamilton and absolved the 40-year-old of any blame for the incident.
“You see the car blocking you and when you’re there at high speed it’s… not nice, let’s say,” he said. “But then I saw immediately, the team told him that I was driving slowly, while I was clearly driving fast, so it’s not Lewis’ fault.
“I quickly chatted to Lewis about it already. That’s the team’s mistake.”
Hamilton also revealed he’s feeling more confident in the Ferrari this weekend, after a strong outing in Imola. “I’m definitely getting there. I feel the last race was a really good step, and then coming into this weekend, I’ve definitely felt more at one with the car,” he explained.
“I think it’s a much, much different car driving here than I’ve had for the last 12 years. But one I’ve really enjoyed driving,” he continued. “Obviously, Charles [Leclerc] has been driving this car for the way they set the car up here for the last 6 years. He hits the ground running and he knows it like the back of his hand. I would say this weekend has been a quick, steep learning curve, but I was quite happy with the recovery from the crash.”
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