Lewis Hamilton believes that the third stop he made during the Hungarian Grand Prix was needless and that it essentially "opened the door" to the costly penalty he later received for exceeding the pit‑lane speed limit. While acknowledging that the sanction was justified because he has been making "a lot of mistakes" in recent outings, Hamilton argued that the extra pit stop was the real catalyst for his drop in the final standings.
The sequence of events began on lap 56 when a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed after a McLaren suffered a technical failure and pulled off the racing line. At that moment Hamilton had just been promoted to second place, inheriting the position from Oscar Piastri. Seizing the opportunity, Ferrari instructed Hamilton to pit for fresh tyres, even though the field was circulating at a reduced speed under the VSC. This strategic decision proved costly.
While Hamilton was in the pits, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen stayed out, maintaining his track position and ultimately moving ahead of Hamilton when the latter rejoined the race. When Hamilton emerged from his third stop, he found himself behind Verstappen and, shortly thereafter, behind his title rival Kimi Antonelli, who had completed his own pit stop just before the VSC was activated. The loss of track position forced Hamilton down to fourth place with only a few laps remaining.
The situation deteriorated further when the stewards opened an investigation into his pit‑lane speed. The analysis showed that Hamilton’s car had exceeded the 80 kph limit by a marginal 0.1 kph, resulting in a five‑second time penalty that was applied after the chequered flag. Because Hamilton could not regain enough time to build a five‑second cushion over his teammate Charles Leclerc, the penalty dropped him behind the Ferrari of Leclerc, leaving him in fifth place in the official classification.
In post‑race comments to Sky Sports F1, Hamilton admitted regret over the VSC stop: "Yeah, I definitely don’t think we should have taken the stop. The call came literally just before the pit lane entry and I didn’t have time to debate it, so you have to trust the decision that’s been made. In hindsight my tyres were fine – I was probably going to lose out to Max anyway, but I could have at least held on to third place. Instead, I opened the door to the penalty I got in the end." The pit‑lane speeding infraction marked Hamilton’s second steward’s penalty in as many days at the Hungaroring.
The previous day, he had been handed a three‑place grid drop for impeding Piastri at the end of Q3, which demoted him from second to fifth on the Sunday grid. This string of penalties follows a pattern that has emerged over the last few races. At the Belgian Grand Prix, Hamilton received a five‑second penalty for a first‑lap collision with George Russell. Two weeks earlier at Silverstone, he was penalised for a jump‑start, again incurring a five‑second time addition.
These successive sanctions have taken a toll on Hamilton’s championship standing. His fifth‑place finish in Hungary allowed Antonelli to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 50 points as the sport entered its summer hiatus. Despite the setbacks, Hamilton remains the closest challenger to the Mercedes driver’s teammate and expressed optimism about Ferrari’s prospects for the remainder of the season. He stressed the need to avoid further penalties, saying, "I’m definitely optimistic.
I’m massively grateful to the team because they have really done a great job in this first half. The last three races haven’t been great – lots of mistakes. A mistake at Silverstone that cost dearly, then the incident in Belgium, and now this weekend." Former driver and Sky Sports analyst Martin Brundle weighed in, likening the situation to being "a quarter of a kilo underweight" – frustrating but ultimately bound by the regulations. He noted that the 0.1 kph breach in Hungary mirrored similar marginal exceedances observed in Monaco, where drivers were also penalised for tiny speed‑limit infractions.
Brundle explained that teams fine‑tune their pit‑lane limiters to stay just under the 80 kph threshold, and even a slight overshoot can be deemed a competitive advantage, prompting the stewards to enforce penalties consistently. Looking ahead, the Formula 1 calendar resumes after the summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, scheduled for 21‑23 August.
All sessions will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1, and fans can stream the coverage via NOW without a long‑term contract. Hamilton’s focus will be on delivering clean, penalty‑free performances and extracting maximum points from the remaining races, hoping to keep his championship hopes alive despite the recent string of setbacks.