Multiple Authors
Lewis Hamilton could face a grid penalty at the Hungarian Grand Prix following a post-qualifying investigation for impeding Oscar Piastri.
The Ferrari driver set the second fastest time of qualifying, just 0.012 seconds off Lando Norris’ pole position effort, but looks likely to face a three-place grid drop for blocking Piastri on his last Q3 effort at Turn 1.
Hamilton was the first driver on the road in the final runs of qualifying, and after failing to improve on his time, was ahead of Piastri on track as the McLaren driver started his flying lap.
Video footage showed Piastri locking up and running wide of the racing line as Hamilton blocked his path through the corner.
Lewis Hamilton qualified in second. Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images
Teams usually warn their drivers of rivals behind them in qualifying, but Hamilton said the call from his race engineer came too late.
“I was told literally when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea he was coming,” Hamilton said.
“I thought everyone came out behind me. I was the first out, so I thought everyone had finished their lap and I think Charles [Leclerc] was the car that was behind me when I left the pit lane as far as I was aware.
“So, yeah, crazy because they’d been clean and obviously it wasn’t intentional.”
Hamilton was due to visit the stewards to discuss the incident at 6 p.m. local time, although he did not hold much hope for a favourable decision.
“It’s all depending on the stewards. Obviously we’ll know in the next half an hour, but I always expect the worst,” he said.
– Hungarian Grand Prix: Lando Norris upsets Ferrari and Mercedes with blistering pole
– Aston Martin’s ‘new car’ suffers early setback; Adrian Newey still encouraged
– Lando Norris says new way of racing in F1 a ‘shame:’ ‘Not how a sport should be run’
Hamilton also questioned why Ferrari sent him out first on the road on his final run in Q3 and believes he had the performance to secure pole position.
“I mean, I don’t know why we went first and that was a bit of a shock to me,” he said. “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 in Turn 1, I had a snap and I was already a tenth and a half down and it just cascaded from there.
“So the last lap was the worst lap of all and all the other laps were really good. So we clearly had the car to be on pole today and I just didn’t deliver. So that’s, yeah, tough to swallow.”
