Lewis Hamilton has received a grid penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri during qualifying for the Hungarian GP. The Ferrari driver has been found guilty by the FIA stewards of impeding the McLaren driver in turn one during his last fast lap in Q3. As a result, Hamilton loses his second starting position at the Hungaroring and is demoted to P5. Piastri moves up one place to P4.
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Hamilton seemed on his way to a historic tenth pole position at the Hungaroring, but was ultimately beaten by just 0.012 seconds by McLaren driver Lando Norris. After his fast lap, however, he came under fire for allegedly impeding Piastri. “Lewis (Hamilton, ed.) just wasn’t looking in his mirrors,” a frustrated Piastri told Sky Sports. “It’s a shame, because I couldn’t drive a good lap anyway because of that.” The Australian’s first fast lap ultimately earned him fifth place on the grid.
Grid penalty for Hamilton?
“The car was clearly fast today,” he added hopefully. “It wasn’t an easy qualifying, but there’s clearly potential in our package.” Ultimately, Piastri moved up another spot on the starting grid. Hamilton had to report to the stewards afterwards for ‘possibly impeding’ the McLaren driver and received a three-place grid penalty. Kimi Antonelli will therefore start from P3 and teammate Charles Leclerc inherits a spot on the front row.
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During the official FIA press conference, Hamilton emphasized that Ferrari had not informed him about the approaching McLaren. “I was only told he was coming when he was right behind me in the corner, so I had no idea,” said the seven-time world champion. “It was not intentional, of course.”
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