Lewis Hamilton hit with penalty after Max Verstappen clash in Monaco GP qualifying

Lewis Hamilton has been handed a three-place grid penalty for the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.

The seven-time F1 world champion recorded his best grand prix qualifying result for Ferrari and was set to start fourth on the grid on Sunday.

Yet in Q1, Hamilton was involved in an impeding incident with Max Verstappen. The Brit’s race engineer, Riccardo Adami, originally told his driver that Verstappen was on a fast lap, before stating he was on a slow lap.

Hamilton veered slightly on the racing line, but Verstappen was indeed on a push lap. Hamilton said: “You said he was slowing down, f*** sake man!”

The stewards investigated the incident after the session, with the 40-year-old now dropping from fourth to seventh. Hamilton was pictured apologising to Verstappen after qualifying.

The penalty also means Verstappen, who qualified fifth, will now start alongside Oscar Piastri on the grid in fourth spot. Isack Hadjar moves up to fifth, with Fernando Alonso now starting sixth.

Hamilton said afterwards: “It is very difficult to keep out of the way of everybody, I was doing a good job.

“But then the team said Max was on a fast lap, then they said he wasn’t. I was about to get back on power, accelerated for 10m, I was off the line, but did have an impact on him.”

Verstappen, speaking after qualifying, did acknowledge it the scenario wasn’t Hamilton’s fault but did believe the Ferrari driver should be penalised.

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“It’s not nice, the team told him I was driving slow when I was clearly driving fast,” he said.

“It’s not Lewis’ fault. I already spoke to him about it. It’s the team’s mistake.”

Asked if he believes Hamilton should get a penalty, he replied: ”If you look at the history of things, yes. Normally in qualifying, they’re quite strict on these things.”

Lando Norris took pole position with a terrific final lap, with home hero Charles Leclerc in second.

The 78-lap race has added intrigue this year, with each car required to run three different sets of tyres - which is likely to make two pit-stops a mandatory requirement.