Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Antonelli given Hungarian GP grid penalties which shuffle race grid headed by Lando Norris

Lewis Hamilton and world championship leader Kimi Antonelli have been given penalties to shuffle the order at the top end of the Hungarian Grand Prix grid.

Ferrari’s Hamilton was first handed a three-place demotion from second place in the hours after qualifying for impeding McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at the end of Q3.

That initially dropped the Ferrari driver behind Antonelli, who had originally qualified fourth, before the Mercedes driver was then handed a three-place demotion himself for failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags when Max Verstappen spun at the last corner.

Hamilton will now start fifth and Antonelli – who leads the Briton by 45 points at the top of the Drivers’ Championship – seventh, behind Mercedes team-mate George Russell.

The Ferrari driver has now received three stewards’ penalties in the last three race weekends. He was previously handed five-second in-race sanctions for a false start at Silverstone and then a first-lap collision with Russell last week in Belgium.

In a post on Instagram on Saturday evening, Hamilton wrote: “Sometimes you just can’t catch a break. Another weekend when I’ve been feeling great throughout all the sessions, but then it just falls apart.

“To go from being so close to pole to then starting P5 is extremely frustrating.

“I always do my best to keep positive – sport is always about the highs and lows, but it’s also in the margins. Every point counts and you have to seize every opportunity.

“After three penalties in three weekends, it’s becoming difficult to hang on to that positivity. Still, I won’t let the setbacks take away from the progress we’ve been making as a team. With the pace we have, I’m hopeful we can get something out of the race tomorrow. The car has been feeling better and better, and we’ve been competitive all weekend.

“Tonight, we’ll keep working hard together to give ourselves the best possible chance tomorrow. I always enjoy this track, so keep the faith and send good vibes for the race.”

McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed pole position after topping qualifying with Hamilton’s penalty promoting team-mate Charles Leclerc onto the front row in second place.

Piastri moves up to third with Red Bull’s Verstappen taking over fourth having originally qualified sixth.

Why Hamilton was given his three-place grid penalty

Hamilton had been the first of the leading drivers to complete his final lap – positioning he was left surprised by – in Q3 and did not improve what at the time stood as the provisional pole lap time.

But he slowed down once he crossed the start-finish line, the Ferrari appeared to block Piastri through Turn One as the McLaren started its own final timed attempt behind him.

Stewards summoned both drivers and team representatives after qualifying to review the incident and ultimately judged that Hamilton had unnecessarily impeded Piastri, handing him a three-place grid demotion.

Stewards’ Hamilton verdict in full

“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), the driver of Car 81 (Oscar Piastri), team representatives and reviewed video, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence.

“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.”

Speaking before the penalty was confirmed, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur said any blame fell on the team and not Hamilton.

Vasseur told Sky Sports F1: “We told him [about Piastri] but it was far too late.

“If there’s a mistake, it’s our mistake.”

Hamilton himself said soon after qualifying: “I was told literally when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea he was coming. I thought everyone came out behind me. I was the first out, so I thought everyone had finished the lap.

“I think Charles was coming up behind me when I left the pit lane, as far as I was aware.

“Crazy, because it had been clean, and obviously it wasn’t intentional.”

‘A bit of a shock to me’ – Hamilton questions Ferrari’s final-run strategy before Piastri block

Ferrari would arguably have avoided such a situation with Piastri entirely, however, had they sent Hamilton back out onto the track for his final timed of qualifying later rather than earlier.

The Briton held provisional pole from Norris by one tenth of a second after Q3’s first timed laps. He was dispatched as the first car back onto the circuit for the final runs with just over three minutes of the session remaining.

Norris was the second last driver to take to the track, with Piastri the last. Hamilton did not improve his time on his final lap, whereas Norris did and pipped him to pole by 0.012s.

And Hamilton admitted: “I don’t know why we went first, and that was a bit of a shock to me.

“I definitely wouldn’t have chosen to go first, but it is what it is.

“I had a clean out-lap, and when I started my lap, already into Turn One I had a snap and I was already a tenth and a half down. It just cascaded from there. So, the last lap was the worst lap of all, and all the other laps were really good. We clearly had the car to be on pole today, and I just didn’t deliver. So that’s tough to swallow.”

Hamilton also said that pole position – which would have been his first for a Grand Prix since the same event three years ago – “definitely got away from us”.

Why Antonelli was given his three-place grid penalty

In a separate incident moments later, Antonelli was placed under investigation for failing to slow down sufficiently as he approached the Hungaroring’s final corner with Verstappen’s Red Bull in the run-off area.

Antonelli told Sky Sports F1 afterwards: “The yellow flag came while I was entering the corner so I tried my best to lift. I did lift but gave up quite a bit of minimum speed compared to before. It was a shame.”

However, in their post-race investigation, stewards ruled that while Antonelli did indeed lift off the throttle earlier than his previous lap when passing Verstappen’s car his speed “was slightly higher than that on the previous push lap”.

They concluded that although the Mercedes “did make a reduction in speed” it was “in our determination, an insufficient and unsustained one”. While the more standard penalty for failing to slow for yellow flags is a five-place grid demotion, stewards took into account the “mitigation” of the fact he had slowed to an extent and reduced it to three spots.

Sky Sports F1’s Hungarian GP schedule

Sunday July 26
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: Porsche Supercup
10.20am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Hungarian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: THE HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Hungarian GP reaction: Chequered Flag*
5pm: Ted’s Notebook*

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 is in Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix with Sunday’s race at 2pm and build-up from 12.30pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

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