Formula 1 News: Hamilton handed 3-place grid penalty

Lewis Hamilton has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Dutch Grand Prix after the stewards deemed that he had unnecessarily impeded the Red Bull of Sergio Perez during Q1 of Saturday’s qualifying session.

Perez had to lift when he encountered the slow-moving Mercedes of Hamilton in the early stages of the session, prompting an angry response from the Mexican over the radio. He later suggested that the incident had compromised his session due to having to use an extra set of tires later.

Hamilton later was knocked out in Q2, not good enough to advance any further.

Both drivers and their respective team representatives were summoned to see the stewards about the matter at 5:00pm local time, where it was decided that Hamilton had breached Article 37.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

As such, a 3-place grid drop will be applied to the next race that Hamilton competes in, meaning that his original starting position of P12 for the Dutch Grand Prix will now become P15.