Lewis Hamilton went to F1 race director Michael Masi to argue penalty
Lewis Hamilton went to see Formula 1 race director Michael Masi during the red fla♏g period during the Italian꧋ Grand Prix to object against his penalty.
Mercedes driver Hamilton was handed 🐼a 10-second stop-go penalty for eꦰntering the pit lane when the pits were closed during the first Safety Car period on Sunday’s race at Monza.
The penalty dropped Hamilton to the very back of the field after the restart but he turned in a strong recovery drive to take seven🙈th place – just two places behind teammate Valtteri Bottas - and limit the damage to his championship lead.
Hamilton was seen heading to race control during the red flag break and the six-t༒imes world champion visited Masi to argue his case against the penalty, claiming he had not seen the signal which warned the pit lane was closed.
“We discussed it because he said he didn’t see it, which is certainly true,” Mercede🌱s F1 team boss Toto Wolff said. “He would ne🍎ver say something that wasn’t true.
“Those yellow crosses were on the outside of the corner. Nothing on the inside. No red light on the pit lane entry. And this is why he went to see Micha🤪el and told him ‘I didn’t see it’.”
Hamilton uওltimately accꦗepted the blame for the error after the race, having admitted he had failed to spot the yellow crosses on the boards.
Wolff moved to explain the error which “screwed” Hamilton’s race which he had been dominatin🌠g having opened up a 15-second lead in the first stint.
"It was a weird sequence of events that maybe we c𓄧ould 🃏have spotted earlier," Wolff added.
"The decisions that were taken were highly unusual, but they were absolutely🍰 within the rules.
"One of the Haas [cars] was parked to the right, near the entry, on the inside of Parabol🃏ica, and there w💫as a single yellow. 11 seconds later, a safety car was deployed.
"Once the safety car was deployed, they put the entry to the pitlane on red, but it wasn't exactly red, it was two yello♍w crosses on the outside.
"O♕ne of the 🗹strategists just shouted into the radio whilst we were entering the pitlane. There was confusion.
"We can't see the signs, and this is just a sequence of events that sc🐻rewed Lewis's race. Not happy, but you have to take it on the chin."
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