Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton hit with Hungary Grand Prix grid penalties

Both Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton have been hit with grid penalties for infringements that occurred in qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Feature image credit: Pirelli

The top two drivers in the world championship have been given three-place grid penalties each for causing infringements during qualifying ahead of the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring.

Hamilton was able to enjoy a successful qualifying session, finishing second, just missing out on pole position by 0.012 seconds against McLaren’s defending world champion, Lando Norris, whilst Antonelli was able to scrape fourth overall in a weekend where Mercedes didn’t look threatening on pace.

The seven-time world champion, Hamilton, has been penalised for impeding, whilst the championship leader, Antonelli, has been hit for failing to slow under yellow flags.

As a result, Hamilton will now start the race from fifth place, from second, after Antonelli dropped to seventh from fourth, when their penalties are applied.

Lando Norris beats Lewis Hamilton to Hungarian Grand Prix pole

Lewis Hamilton

At the end of his final qualifying lap, Hamilton was found to be on the racing line as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was opening up his push lap.

Upon their arrival at Turn 1, Piastri was forced to avoid the slower #44 Ferrari and had to abort the lap, resulting in his fifth-place finish at the end of qualifying.

However, Hamilton had confirmed he had not received a radio message from Ferrari confirming Piastri was quickly approaching, and thanks to his car’s positioning on the run to T1, he could not see the Australian in his mirrors.

In the stewards’ report, they found Hamilton had ‘unnecessarily impeded’ Piastri and slapped the seven-time world champion. They said:

“At the approach to Turn 1, Car 44 was travelling at a significantly reduced speed on the racing line while Car 81 was approaching on a push lap.

The driver of Car 44 explained that he had just completed a fast lap and did not receive the team’s radio message regarding the approaching Car 81 until the latter was already in close proximity.

“He further stated that, due to the positioning of his car on the track, Car 81 was not visible in his mirrors.

“Car 81, which was on a push lap, was forced to take avoiding action by running wide and being obliged to abort the lap.

“Having examined the available evidence, the Stewards determined that Car 44 unnecessarily impeded Car 81 during qualifying.”

Lando Norris pips Lewis Hamilton in final Hungarian Grand Prix practice

Kimi Antonelli

At the end of Q3, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had uncharacteristically spun out, prompting a yellow flag zone at the final corner, hindering the likes of Mercedes’ George Russell, who aborted his lap.

However, Antonelli – according to the stewards – fell foul of failing to slow down under yellow flags at the impacted corner. In the stewards’ report, the championship leader was confirmed to have lifted off the throttle earlier than his previous push lap, verified by the telemetry.

However, the officials found his lift and reduction of speed to be a ‘very short period’ and found he had travelled past the incident slightly faster than the previous push. According to the stewards, Antonelli had lifted 16 metres earlier, prompting a reduction of 14 km/h in speed when entering the yellow sector, but found him to be 3km/h faster when he passed the incident.

Whilst Antonelli reduced his speed, the stewards found it to be an ‘insufficient and unsustained’ attempt, and lowered the usual penalty of five grid places to three. They said:

“The driver of Car 12 [Antonelli] stated that on seeing the yellow flag and light panel, he lifted off the throttle earlier than his previous push lap. This was verified by the telemetry.

“However the reduction in speed occurred for a very short period, and in fact the car’s speed when passing the scene of the incident involving Car 3 [Verstappen], was slightly higher than that on the previous push lap.

“The mini sector time was only 0.03 second slower than his best time for that mini sector, and whilst, because he had lifted 16 metres earlier, he was 14 km/h slower entering the yellow flag sector, but was 3 km/h faster when passing the incident site due to less application of the brakes entering the corner.

“The FIA representatives noted that the speed reduction in the mini sector was less than 1%.

“The Stewards considered this incident to be different to other incidents that have resulted in no further action, because unlike those cases, there was no significant speed delta through the mini sector compared to the driver’s previous fastest time under similar circumstances.

“The recommended penalty according to the penalty guidelines, for this offence, is a drop of 5 grid positions, however in mitigation of penalty, we considered that the driver did make a reduction in speed, albeit, in our determination, an insufficient and unsustained one. Further, the driver had limited time and distance to react. Hence a lower penalty is applied.”

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.