Lewis Hamilton has a handicap for his first Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton was ‘shocked’ by the decision to hand him a five-place grid penalty for the Italian Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion failed to slow adequately for yellow flags on the reconnaissance laps at the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend, leading to a post-race punishment from the stewards.

A double-waved yellow flag zone was implemented at the final corner of the Zandvoort Circuit for the laps to the grid with the purpose of keeping staff working on the grid safe. Hamilton slowed down on his approach to the pit lane, but not enough to appease the stewards, who deemed his speed too extreme and hit him with a five-place grid penalty, as well as two penalty points.

Ahead of his first Monza outing with the Scuderia, Hamilton was asked about the punishment. “I was surprised when I heard about the penalty, but it is what it is,” he replied. “I have to live with it.”

The topic resurfaced in the FIA press conference on Thursday, too. “I landed back home and saw I got this penalty, and I was really shocked, to be honest,” he explained. “It’s not black and white. I did lift, but to their liking, not enough.

“To get the penalty and penalty points is pretty hardcore, but I’ll learn from it. It will be hard this weekend. Qualifying is tight, and to be set back five places is not great going into your first Monza GP with Ferrari. Gives me more to fight for, and makes me motivated.”

The penalty was the final sucker-punch from a challenging weekend on the Dutch coast. The Brit showed strong pace throughout qualifying and was within touching distance of team-mate Charles Leclerc, but that was the end of the positive news. He crashed on lap 22 of the race after running wide at Turn Three, ensuring that he ended back-to-back races with no points to show for his efforts.

Despite a challenging run of form, Hamilton still boasts the full support of team principal Fred Vasseur. “This, for sure, but he is also emotional,” he told the Beyond the Grid podcast. “It means that it’s also [on] us to support him when he is struggling, and we also need to push him when he is struggling.

“Spa and Budapest were difficult for him, but he can be sure that he has the full support of everybody at Maranello to recover, to be back. I’m really convinced that he will do it, and we have to be supportive with him on every single day, and I will be supportive every single day with Lewis.”