Hamilton is now three reprimands from a grid penalty after Baku: every impeding incident that has cost him in 2026

Hamilton's most costly impeding incident of the year came at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, when the stewards handed him a three-place grid penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri in qualifying.

The Ferrari driver had set the second-fastest time, just 0.012 seconds off Lando Norris's pole position effort, but dropped to fifth on Sunday's grid. Hamilton said Ferrari had informed him too late, telling media: “I was told literally when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea he was coming.”

The issue flared up again at the Spanish Grand Prix in September, where Hamilton was called out by at least four drivers during FP1 at the Madring. Arvid Lindblad and Carlos Sainz both branded the blocking “dangerous” on team radio, while Yuki Tsunoda and Nico Hulkenberg also voiced their frustration. Sainz was forced to abandon a flying lap after catching the 41-year-old ahead. Race Control did not investigate any of the incidents, but the string of complaints made clear that Hamilton's track positioning on slow laps had become a concern for the rest of the field.

Then came Baku where Hamilton received a reprimand for what the stewards called “severe” impeding of Lawson in FP2, finding no intent but noting the danger posed by the high-speed corners and Hamilton's failure to follow the Race Director's traffic management notes. The full details of the incident and the stewards' reasoning were covered in GPblog's verdict report on Thursday. Lawson himself subsequently came to Hamilton's defence, pointing to F1's energy deployment regulations as the root cause, as GPblog also reported.

Hamilton's first driving reprimand of 2026 was issued at the British Grand Prix, for failing to slow for a yellow flag at Silverstone. The Baku decision brings his total to two.

Under FIA regulations, any driver who receives five reprimands, at least four for driving infringements, receives an automatic 10-place grid penalty at the next Grand Prix.

Three more driving reprimands across the remaining races would therefore trigger an automatic grid drop.

Whether the recurring pattern is down to communication breakdowns with the Ferrari pit wall, the complications of the 2026 energy regulations, or simply bad luck, it is a growing concern for the seven-time world champion.