Lewis Hamilton and the championship‑leading Kimi Antonelli have both been handed grid penalties that will reshuffle the front of the Hungarian Grand Prix starting order. The penalties stem from separate incidents during qualifying, and they illustrate how quickly fortunes can change in Formula 1.
Initially, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was slapped with a three‑place grid drop for allegedly impeding McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri at the very end of the third qualifying session (Q3). The stewards determined that Hamilton, who had set the provisional fastest time, slowed unexpectedly on the racing line as Piastri approached on a flying lap, forcing the McLaren driver to abort his attempt.
As a result, Hamilton fell from second place on the provisional grid to fifth. The situation grew more complicated when the Mercedes‑driven Antonelli, who had qualified fourth, was also penalised.
After the first penalty was applied, Antonelli moved up to second on the grid. However, he was then given a three‑place demotion for failing to reduce speed sufficiently under yellow‑flag conditions when Max Verstappen spun at the final corner of the Hungaroring. The stewards concluded that although Antonelli did lift off the throttle, his speed remained marginally higher than the previous lap and the reduction was deemed insufficient and unsustained. Consequently, Antonelli will line up seventh, behind his teammate George Russell, who occupies the sixth spot.
The final provisional grid, after both penalties have been applied, looks as follows: 1. Lando Norris (McLaren) 2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 4.
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 5. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 6. George Russell (Mercedes) 7. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 8.
Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) 9. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 10. Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) Hamilton’s string of penalties has been particularly harsh. This is his third stewards’ sanction in as many race weekends.
He previously received a five‑second time penalty for a false start at Silverstone, followed by a penalty for a first‑lap collision with George Russell in the Belgian Grand Prix. In an Instagram post on Saturday evening, the seven‑time world champion expressed his frustration: “Sometimes you just can’t catch a break. Another weekend when I’ve been feeling great throughout all the sessions, but then it just falls apart.
To go from being so close to pole to then starting P5 is extremely frustrating.” He added that maintaining a positive mindset is challenging after three consecutive penalties, but he remains hopeful that the team’s improving pace will yield a strong result. McLaren’s Lando Norris capitalised on the reshuffle to secure pole position, edging Hamilton out by a razor‑thin margin of 0.012 seconds. Charles Leclerc, who had originally qualified third, was promoted to the front row alongside Norris, while Oscar Piastri moved up to third. Max Verstappen, who had started the session in sixth, climbed to fourth after the penalties were applied.
The controversy surrounding Hamilton’s impediment began when he completed his final qualifying lap first, a position that left him surprised by his own provisional pole time. As he crossed the start‑finish line, Hamilton slowed, and his Ferrari appeared to block Piastri’s line into Turn 1 as the McLaren driver launched his own flying lap. Both drivers and team representatives were summoned to the stewards’ office, where video, telemetry, radio transcripts and in‑car footage were examined.
The stewards concluded that Hamilton had unnecessarily impeded Piastri, resulting in the three‑place grid drop. Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur defended his driver, stating that any fault lay with the team’s communication rather than Hamilton himself. “We told him about Piastri, but it was far too late. If there’s a mistake, it’s our mistake,” Vasseur told Sky Sports F1.
Hamilton later explained his perspective: “I was told literally when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea he was coming. I thought everyone came out behind me. I was the first out, so I thought everyone had finished the lap. I think Charles was coming up behind me when I left the pit lane, as far as I was aware.
Crazy, because it had been clean, and obviously it wasn’t intentional.” Many analysts suggested that Ferrari could have avoided the incident by sending Hamilton back out for a later final run, rather than sending him early. Hamilton’s early run meant he was the first car on track with just over three minutes remaining in the session.
When Norris and Piastri later took their final attempts, Norris improved his time and snatched pole, while Hamilton was unable to better his provisional best. Hamilton admitted that his early departure was a strategic error: “I don’t know why we went first, and that was a bit of a shock to me.
I definitely wouldn’t have chosen to go first, but it is what it is. I had a clean out‑lap, and when I started my lap, already into Turn One I had a snap and I was already a tenth and a half down. It just cascaded from there.
So, the last lap was the worst lap of all, and all the other laps were really good. We clearly had the car to be on pole today, and I just didn’t deliver. So that’s tough to swallow.” He also noted that a pole position at the Hungaroring would have been his first since the same venue three years earlier, adding that the missed opportunity “definitely got away from us.” Antonelli’s penalty stemmed from a separate incident at the final corner. While navigating the run‑off area after Max Verstappen’s spin, Antonelli was required to slow for a yellow flag.
He claimed he lifted off the throttle as soon as the flag appeared, but the stewards found his speed reduction insufficient. The typical sanction for such an infraction is a five‑place grid drop; however, the stewards considered the mitigating factor that Antonelli had indeed slowed, and reduced the penalty to three places.
In his post‑qualifying interview, Antonelli said, “The yellow flag came while I was entering the corner so I tried my best to lift. I did lift but gave up quite a bit of minimum speed compared to before. It was a shame.” The stewards’ final wording noted that while the Mercedes driver made a reduction in speed, it was “in our determination, an insufficient and unsustained one.” The Hungarian Grand Prix weekend will feature a packed schedule: a Formula 3 feature race at 7:35 am, a Porsche Supercup sprint at 9:05 am, an F2 feature at 10:20 am, followed by the Grand Prix build‑up at 12:30 pm, the race itself at 2:00 pm, and post‑race analysis later in the afternoon. All sessions will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event, with streaming available via NOW without a contract.
Both drivers now face the challenge of turning setbacks into opportunities. Hamilton, despite the setbacks, remains optimistic about the car’s performance and the team’s progress, while Antonelli will aim to convert his strong qualifying pace into a solid race result. The penalties have added an extra layer of intrigue to what promises to be a fiercely contested race at the historic Hungaroring.