Lewis Hamilton has been hit with a five-place grid penalty for the Italian Grand Prix. After a trip to the stewards, the seven-time world champion was deemed to have neglected to slow under yellow flags during Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix.

This was the icing on the cake following a tumultuous weekend, as Hamilton picked up where he left off before the summer break. The Brit qualified in seventh – an acceptable result given his team-mate was only one place ahead – but crashed out of Sunday’s race on lap 22 after a rare error, sliding into the wall after venturing onto the run-off area at Turn Three. After a trip to the stewards, things went from bad to worse.

The stewards were judging an incident from before the race. On the reconnaissance laps, Hamilton failed to adequately slow in the double-waved yellow flags zone at the final corner before pulling into the pit lane. These regulations are in place to protect the staff working on the grid before the start.

This offence has serious consequences, and Hamilton was hit with a five-place grid penalty for the upcoming Italian GP and two penalty points. This means that the 40-year-old will be starting on the back foot in front of the Tifosi at Ferrari‘s most important race.

“The data showed that the driver had entered the double yellow sector approximately 20kph less than his speed at the same point in practice sessions, had reduced throttle application in the order of 10 per cent to 20 per cent and had lifted and braked 70 metres earlier when entering the pit lane,” the stewards’ report explained.

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“We did not consider that a 20kph reduction in speed at a double-waved yellow sector constituted reducing speed ‘significantly’. We also did not consider the speed at which the driver entered the pit entry road as being at a ‘greatly’ reduced speed.

“The penalty guidelines for such an infringement would ordinarily attract a penalty of 10 grid positions at the next race. However, given that the driver had made an attempt to reduce his speed and to brake earlier, we took that into account as mitigating circumstances and imposed a 5 grid place penalty.”

This capped a miserable weekend for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc also failed to make the chequered flag. He was tagged into the wall at Turn Three after contact from Kimi Antonelli while running fifth. With George Russell crossing the line in fourth, the battle for second place in the Constructors’ Championship closed up with nine races remaining.