Hamilton and Verstappen Avoid Penalties After Monza FP3 Clash

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen traded track position, radio barbs and a flash of old animosity at Monza – but they will not face any punishment from the FIA stewards after their feisty exchange in final practice for the Italian Grand Prix.

Wheel-to-wheel down the pit straight

In the closing minutes of FP3, with drivers jostling for clean air before their final flying laps, Hamilton appeared to jump ahead of Verstappen in the queue exiting the pit lane. What should have been a calm build-up to a time attack turned into a flat-out drag race.

The two champions ran side by side down the pit straight, neither willing to blink. Verstappen even offered Hamilton a thumbs up at full speed, a gesture that looked equal parts sarcasm and acknowledgement as they hurtled towards the Variante del Rettifilo.

Then the move came.

Verstappen dived late on the brakes down the inside into the first chicane. Hamilton had nowhere sensible to place the car and bailed out across the run-off, cutting the chicane to avoid contact. Both laps were effectively ruined. Both drivers backed off.

Blame traded, but no penalty

The aftermath was as sharp as the on-track move.

“He caused that,” Verstappen told Red Bull over team radio, laying responsibility at Hamilton’s door.

Hamilton, now in Ferrari red, saw it very differently. “I got blocked by Max, so…” he reported, with race engineer Carlo Santi replying: “Yes, we saw.”

The stewards reviewed the incident and opted against taking it any further. No reprimands, no grid drops, no formal warnings. Just another chapter added to a rivalry that rarely needs help to ignite.

Old tensions, familiar flashpoints

The skirmish arrived shortly after Verstappen had already voiced his irritation at finding a Ferrari in his path earlier in the session. With Sergio Perez’s Cadillac running wide at Lesmo 1 and spraying gravel across the track, Verstappen and the Ferrari behind had to negotiate the mess.

“This **** Ferrari again! My God! Always in the way!” came the frustrated radio outburst from the Red Bull driver.

It was raw, it was typical Verstappen, and it framed the mood heading into that late-practice joust with Hamilton.

Their shared history needs no retelling for F1 followers. From the simmering build-up before 2021 to the full-blown title war that followed, Hamilton and Verstappen have long since moved beyond polite coexistence. Monza’s FP3 moment was brief, but it carried the familiar edge of two drivers who simply refuse to yield to one another, even when the session is “only” practice.

Russell sets the pace as stewards stay hands-off

The stewards also looked at a separate impeding incident involving George Russell and Oscar Piastri at Lesmo 1. Piastri, on a push lap in his McLaren, came across a slow-moving Russell right on the apex and had to back out significantly. Again, after review, no further action.

On the stopwatch, Russell had already done the talking. The Mercedes driver topped FP3 with a 1:22.219, staking an early claim as the man to beat over one lap at Monza.

Hamilton slotted into second, 0.226 seconds adrift, with Verstappen 0.350s off Russell’s benchmark in third. The three of them, split by just over three tenths, underlined how tight the fight at the front could become.

No penalties. No reshuffled order. Just a grid of heavyweights, bristling with grudges and form, heading into qualifying around a circuit that punishes hesitation and rewards nerve.

Hamilton and Verstappen showed in practice that neither is willing to give an inch. The real question is what happens when they try the same thing again with a starting position – and perhaps the race itself – on the line.