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(Motorsport-Total.com) – When Lewis Hamilton entered the pit lane on lap 21, he had lost the Italian Grand Prix (Formula 1 2020 live on ticker). Because the pit lane was closed at the time, the Mercedes driver should not have come to the pits. The result was severe: Hamilton received a ten-second stop-start penalty for his offense.
© Motorsport Images
Lewis Hamilton had to wait ten seconds in his pits as a penalty Focus
Thanks to this, he fell more than 20 seconds behind the field after the restart and first had to go back up. Hamilton finished seventh, but had nothing more to do with winning the race. “I just didn’t see the signs and I take responsibility for them,” he said annoyed after the race.
The light signals had signaled to drivers that the pit lane was closed due to Kevin Magnussen’s Haas stranded. But Hamilton overlooked this on the outside of the Parabolica. His team hadn’t seen any signs or looked at the FIA timesheet, as Motorsport Director Toto Wolff admits.
“That was a strange chain that we could have discovered a little earlier,” says Wolff. “The options [der Rennleitung] they were quite unusual, but they were absolutely within the regulations. One of the Haas was parked on the right, near the entrance to the pit, and there was a simple yellow flag. And eleven seconds later, the safety car was sent to the track. “
In red phase: Hamilton was shown recording
At that time the pit lane was also closed, which the race direction did not indicate with red, but with two crosses on the outside. “One of the strategists yelled over the radio as we drove into the well. There was confusion,” says Wolff. “We couldn’t see the signs. It’s just a chain that broke Lewis’s career.”
When the race was called off shortly after, Hamilton even went to race director Michael Masi and spoke with him. “The team had no photos and just wanted to see what I had missed because I could have sworn there was no red light at the pit entrance,” explains Hamilton.
Actually, I didn’t want to go to Masi, but to the other race stewards who made the decisions. “Then they quickly showed me the recording on board. There were two signs with an X on them. I hadn’t seen them because I had looked elsewhere,” said the Briton. “I couldn’t do anything so I left.”
Wolff is upset: Message only on monitor page 4
Normally, Hamilton’s team could have warned that the pit entrance was closed, but Mercedes was unaware. “We couldn’t see the signals from the pit lane, and if the driver doesn’t see them either, which I absolutely believe, then the only way to hear is on page four (actually page three; editor’s note) of the system. communication of the FIA, “says Wolff.
He’s upset: “Nobody looks this way when the safety car comes out and the driver is about to go into the pits. Everything is concentrated in the pitstop.” As a counterargument, it could be argued that all the other teams, except for Alfa Romeo, noticed that the pit lane was closed because everyone else except Antonio Giovinazzi had been left out.
And in fact, a Mercedes employee spotted the message from the race leadership: “One of our guys at the factory saw it. But it was too late,” Wolff argues.
Hamilton operates damage control
For Hamilton, the victory at Monza was over despite a previously dominant performance. After his penalty, he started the last 25 laps of the race, 20 seconds behind the field. From there, he was able to work his way up to seventh and set the fastest race lap.
“This is good news because I definitely didn’t think it was possible yet,” says the Mercedes driver, whose world championship lead remains at 47 points because the competition has also failed. His teammate Valtteri Bottas only crossed the finish line in fifth place, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) had to park his car in the pits.
“I’ll take that with me and I’m grateful Max didn’t get any points,” Hamilton said. “So we haven’t lost much today.”
