Lewis Hamilton Just Got Bad News For His Chances At Monza

As the season gets back underway after the break, Lewis Hamilton continues to sit atop the standings in this year’s F1 title race. The first half saw Mercedes drama within the team, a new winner in Max Verstappen, and Sebastian Vettel struggling to stay in the top 5 in points. If the remainder of the season is any indication, it’s going to be a dog fight until the last race.

Since this will likely come down to the final turn of the year, every inch matters from here on out. Hamilton will be starting off on the wrong foot after the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend. The following weekend, F1 travels to Italy where Hamilton will be getting some self inflicted bad news. Due to engine changes throughout the year, he’ll be starting back further in the grid which could seriously hinder his chances for a win.

It has been decided that Lewis Hamilton will slide down the grid at Monza.

The reigning Formula 1 world champion extended his lead in the 2016 standings recently, but insisted he still doesn’t feel like the true leader because he is running short on engines.

“It’s still not enough because I’m not a race win ahead yet,” he said. “I hope I’ll be able to get a race win ahead and then I’ll feel like I am ahead.”

Essentially what he is saying that because he is short on engines, he’ll continue to incur penalties if this keeps happening. To mitigate that, if he pulls out to a 1 race win lead in the points, he’ll give himself a bit more cushion.

“Why Monza? Because we want to minimize the impact of the penalty and it’s easier to overtake there,” said team boss Toto Wolff.

This is why it’s a bit self inflicted. They were able to choose where they wanted to get the engine penalty, but it’s still a penalty nonetheless. Oh F1 what a tangled web you weave. Hamilton’s future for this season is still bright and we’ll get more of a picture as to how that might all play out this weekend at Spa, my personal favorite track on the F1 calendar. If you haven’t been paying attention, here are some highlights from the first part of this season.

(Source: Autoweek)