Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton has been handed a three-place grid drop for impeding McLaren driver Oscar Piastri in Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying.
Towards the end of the final Q3 shootout, Hamilton was driving slowly on the main straight while Piastri was approaching behind him on a flying lap.
Unaware the Australian was approaching, Hamilton stuck to the racing line, forcing Piastri to take avoiding action and abort his final flying lap. Piastri sarcastically gave Hamilton a thumbs-up from the cockpit, while a confused Hamilton asked his race engineer why he hadn’t been told the McLaren was approaching.
The FIA stewards handed the seven-time world champion a standard three-place grid drop, meaning Hamilton will drop from second to fifth on Sunday’s starting grid. As a result, Charles Leclerc, Kimi Antonelli and Piastri will all move up a position on the grid.
“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 stewards wrote in their verdict.
“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.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
“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.”
Antonelli is still awaiting his own verdict on allegedly infringing a yellow flag at the end of his final qualifying lap as he passed the stationary Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
“It was pretty bad,” Piastri said. “I saw him from the start line, expecting him to get out of the way and I watched him basically all the way up until I nearly hit him. So, yeah, a shame.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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