Hamilton drops from second to fifth

Lewis Hamilton received a three-place grid penalty for the Hungarian Grand Prix for impeding Oscar Piastri on the McLaren driver’s last Q3 lap. Hamilton initially qualified second but will start fifth on Sunday.

The stewards said after completing his flying Q3 lap, Hamilton was driving “at a significantly reduced speed on the racing line” when Piastri was starting a push lap. Hamilton said he was told Piastri was on a flying lap “literally when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea he was coming.”

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

Piastri told Sky Sports after qualifying that “it was just Lewis not looking in his mirrors” and that “the yellow flag wasn’t my problem.” The incident meant Piastri had to take avoiding action and abort the lap.

Antonelli also penalised

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli initially qualified fourth and George Russell was seventh. Russell needed to stop at the end of Q3 due to a water leak, and Mercedes later confirmed it will change his engine to his fourth of the season ahead of the race.

Antonelli was investigated for an alleged yellow flag infringement regarding his flying lap when Max Verstappen spun and triggered yellows. The stewards handed the Italian a three-place grid drop to seventh and a penalty point, his fourth in 12 months.

Antonelli said he lifted off the throttle earlier than his previous push lap when he saw the yellow flag. The stewards noted the mini sector time was only 0.03s slower than his best, and while he lifted 16 metres earlier he was 3 km/h faster when passing the incident site due to less braking.

The standard penalty is typically a five-place drop. The stewards took Antonelli slowing, though “an insufficient and unsustained,” into account, as well as limited time and distance to react.

Pole sitter Lando Norris edged Hamilton by 0.012s to take his first pole of the season and the first non-Mercedes pole of 2026.