Hamilton, Antonelli stung by grid penalties at Hungarian GP / Photo: Attila KISBENEDEK - POOL/AFP
Hamilton, Antonelli stung by grid penalties at Hungarian GP
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes and his closest challenger Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton were both slapped with three place grid penalties on Saturday for this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Hamilton had originally qualified second behind McLaren's Lando Norris, while teenager Antonelli was fourth behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
Norris and Leclerc will now occupy the front row while McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Red Bull's Max Verstappen step up to the second row.
Hamilton is now fifth and Antonelli seventh.
While the Italian has six Grand Prix wins and leads the championship by 45 points, he also has a habit of exceeding track limits and failed to slow down enough Saturday under a yellow flag late in the session when Verstappen lost control and spun.
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur admitted it was their mistake – and not the driver's – that led to Hamilton being handed a three-place grid penalty for Sunday's Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion was accused of 'not looking in his mirrors' and impeding McLaren rival Oscar Piastri during his final slowdown lap after qualifying second behind world champion Lando Norris of McLaren.
His penalty means he will drop three places to fifth on the grid at the tight and technical Hungaroring circuit where overtaking is always difficult.
Vasseur said: "We will let the stewards decide. We told him but far too late. If there's a mistake, it's our mistake."
Piastri told reporters: "It was just Lewis, not looking in his mirrors. The yellow flag wasn’t my problem."
Hamilton was denied claiming an unprecedented 10th pole position at the same circuit when Norris beat him in the final seconds by just 0.012 seconds.
Piastri's race engineer Tom Stallard told him on team radio "I'm sure Hamilton will get a penalty for that" on team radio.
Hamilton admitted the incident concerned him during post-qualifying interviews.
He said: "My mind is just elsewhere at this second because once I finished my lap, I don't know if I got in the way of someone – so I’m just trying to run it through my mind because I wasn’t aware anyone was coming."
He added he was not told Piastri was on a fast lap.
"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 their lap… Obviously, it wasn't intentional."
C.Arora--MT
