Hamilton blames unnecessary Ferrari VSC pit stop for late Hungarian GP penalty

Hamilton's Hungarian GP weekend had already seen him dropped three places for Sunday's race, after having been found to have impeded Piastri during Qualifying, despite finishing P2 0.012s behind eventual race winner Lando Norris.

After Piastri suffered gearbox issues on Lap 57, and was forced to come to a halt, Ferrari opted to pit Hamilton - losing P2 to Max Verstappen but on fresher tyres. However, the seven-time world champion also lost P3 to Kimi Antonelli - despite emerging ahead of the Italian after his stop, he gave the place back after he was deemed to have been ahead illegally.

For the rest of the race, Hamilton was stuck behind F1's championship leader, and his troubles were compounded after having been found speeding in the pit lane - the Ferrari driver was 0.1km/h over the limit.

Reflecting on his race, Hamilton lamented Ferrari's decision to pit under the VSC, believing he would have lost P2 to Verstappen on fresher tyres, but with enough to stay ahead of Antonelli.

He told Sky F1: "Yeah, I definitely don't think we should have taken the stop. But the call came literally just before the pit lane entry and I didn't have time to debate and you've got to trust the decision that has been taken.

Nevertheless, Hamilton is still optimistic given his strong start to the 2026 season - the Briton is 50 points behind Antonelli heading into the summer break, but knows he needs to avoid more penalties.