Lewis Hamilton has revealed why he went to the stewards' room during the red flag period following his penalty at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver was leading comfortably at Monza on Sunday but the race would turn on its head when he came into the pits during a Safety Car period when the entry had been closed to recover Kevin Magnussen's stricken Haas.
Later the stewards confirmed Hamilton had entered the pit-lane 12 seconds after the 'pit-entry closed' signal had been sent, something the six-time champion took responsibility for.
But to see a driver head to the stewards mid-race was certainly unusual, leading to some suggestions he was maybe trying to appeal.
“It wasn’t to see [race director] Michael [Masi], it was to see the other stewards, who make the decisions with penalties,” Hamilton was quoted by RaceFans.
“They just quickly showed me the onboard and those two signs that had an ‘X’ on it. I didn’t see them because I was looking elsewhere."
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As for why he chose that moment, Lewis added: “There was not really much more for me to do so I just left and went back to get changed and that’s ultimately why I was a little bit late to the grid.”
The incident also saw Hamilton creep up to eight points on his superlicence with an automatic one-race ban triggered if a driver reaches 12 within a calendar year.
