Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur admitted the team felt some frustration over the penalty decision which went against Lewis Hamilton in Zandvoort.
Hamilton received a five-place grid penalty for this weekend’s race after the stewards ruled he failed to slow sufficiently for yellow flags as he approached the pit lane entrance at the end of a reconnaissance lap before last weekend’s race.
The stewards ruled Hamilton did not slow down as much as other drivers who saw the same warning. But Vasseur said it was not clear by how much he needed to slow down.
“The frustration with the decision came because [although] you have to slow down, yes, it’s subjective,” he said.
“It’s not black or white. It’s not ‘you have to be at the pit lane.’ It’s someone deciding if you slowed enough or not and depending on the person making the decision, it will be different.
“But it is what it is. We decided to focus on the weekend and not lose energy on other projects.”
The timing of the stewards’ decision meant that although the infringement occured before the last race, Hamilton’s penalty will be applied to the grid for this weekend’s race.
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“For sure, we were a bit disappointed,” Vasseur added. “Honestly, I don’t know if it was too harsh or not. But from Sunday evening in Zandvoort, my decision was to be focused on Monza and not to spend energy or whatever to fight this.”
As Hamilton is unlikely to start higher than sixth on the grid, he said he “would be happy” to give his team mate Charles Leclerc a slipstream to help him take pole position.
“I know that Ferrari used to do it many years ago,” said Hamilton on Thursday. “I remember when I started at least, I noticed Kimi [Raikkonen] and Felipe [Massa] used to do that often.
“It can be beneficial, but in my past it felt like there was more risk, and often one person had to be sacrificed for it. So I’m not sure whether they will do that this weekend. It’s not been discussed.
“But if it meant getting Charles there, then I would be happy to play that role.”
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