Hamilton on Budget Cap: 'No real punishment, then people will go for it’

Lewis Hamilton has won the Hungarian Grand Prix eight times, which is the most by any driver ever. The British driver is looking forward to race weekend at the Hungaroring, while he also commented on the budget cap and AlphaTauri’s driver change.

Budget cap

"It's definitely a concern," Hamilton told Sky Sports on teams not taking the budget cap seriously. "I mean there wasn't really a big punishment last time so that's when there's no real [punishment] yeah there'll be people that probably go for it again and know they're just going to get a slap on the wrist."

Mercedes’ prospects in Hungary

"I’m definitely hopeful. I think the McLaren was much quicker than us in the high speed but we were quicker in the low speed. This is mostly low speed and medium speed so hopefully we will be at least closer to the group and we've been working on the car constantly. It was good for us here last year so I'm really hoping it's good this weekend," Hamilton commented on what he expects from this weekend.

On Red Bull/AlphaTauri decision

Hamilton said that there is no need to welcome Daniel Ricciardo back, because he has not really left the sport nor many briefings. "I mean he's been here so I'm not really welcoming him back. He's been in all the drivers briefings I've never seen anyone happier to not be driving. He's been happy." He continued: "He'll be super up to speed and of course he deserves to be here."

Hamilton also had some sympathy for Nyck de Vries, who was let go. "It's a shame to to lose Nyck because I think he's one of the nicest we have here."