Lewis Hamilton joined several drivers at the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend to have been fined for speeding in the pit-lane, something he did prior to crashing in Free Practice 3.
FP3 was certainly eventful for the seven-time World Champion, who’s W14 was lifted to safety after crashing in the closing minutes of the session.
After setting the fastest first sector with just a matter of minutes remaining, Hamilton crashed at Mirabeau after being unable to recover from losing the rear of his effectively brand-new W14, which has had its new concept fitted for the weekend.
Hamilton’s crash saw FP3 red flagged, with the session having not resumed.
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The 103-time race winner had to watch on as his car was lifted to safety, with photographs of the W14’s floor having appeared all over social media.
This was the last of Hamilton’s concerns, as the Briton was also fined €600 for going 3.5 mph over the pit-lane speed limit, something George Russell has also been fined for this weekend.
Russell was fined €100 on Friday for going 0.2 mph over the pit-lane speed limit, whilst Zhou Guanyu and rookie Logan Sargeant were also awarded fines.
Zhou was staggeringly caught speeding in the pit-lane four times, resulting in a €800 fine.
Mercedes did incredibly well to rebuild the front-left of Hamilton’s car before qualifying got underway, with the 38-year-old having rewarded the team for their efforts by qualifying sixth for Sunday’s race.
He was the top Mercedes driver on Saturday with Russell having only managed eighth; however, Hamilton could be promoted to fifth due to Charles Leclerc having been summoned to the stewards.
Despite out-qualifying his team-mate, it was a far from simple session for Hamilton, who was almost eliminated in Q1 and Q2.
He complained during qualifying about his car being difficult to drive, with the Briton having noted after the session that the W14 was a “real handful”.
He was nevertheless pleased to secure sixth on the grid, with Hamilton believing he could the maximum out of the car.
“I think we made some really good changes,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 after qualifying.
“Every time you make a change is like a roll of a dice, 50/50 change it’s gonna work. P1 to P2 was good, P2 to P3 was good but then we made a change into P3, which didn’t feel as good.
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“But [the change] was faster in the middle sector, but slow in the first and last.
“The car felt like a real handful, and to switch on the tyres, I really struggled with. We know why, and it was a decision that I had taken, against everyone’s judgement. I fought for something and it made it even harder probably.
“But, I got a really good lap at the end. I think that’s as far as our car was gonna go. In a perfect world maybe there’d be a tenth left in there but, I’m grateful I kept it out of the wall.”