Martin Brundle says it wasn’t Lewis Hamilton’s penalty for impeding in qualifying that cost him a podium in Hungary; it was that moment he released the speed limiter “a fraction early” as he raced Kimi Antonelli.
Hamilton took the chequered flag 0.812s behind third-placed Antonelli at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but dropped to fifth in the final classification as a result of a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane. It was Hamilton’s second penalty of the weekend.
Lewis Hamilton’s pit lane speeding proved decisive in Hungary
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The seven-time world champion had qualified second for the Grand Prix, where he missed out on pole position by 0.012s to Lando Norris, only to line up fifth after being hit with a grid penalty.
Hamilton was found guilty of “unnecessarily impeding” Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri during Q3.
It proved costly as even though Hamilton started the race on a new set of soft Pirelli tyres, he was only able to make up one position off the line.
“Ferrari had looked the team to beat throughout practice, and most folk in the paddock thought they were favourites even though Norris pipped them to pole,” Brundle wrote in his Sky Sports F1 column.
“Hamilton had smartly saved a brand new set of soft tyres by clearing the first stage of qualifying on medium tyres.
“These would have been extremely handy from his front-row grid slot, but he attracted a three-place grid drop from a rather brutal but unintentional blocking of another driver who was on his final qualifying attempt.
“You’ll not be surprised to read the blocked driver was Piastri.”
But his impeding penalty was not what cost Hamilton a podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Instead, Brundle says, it was his actions during his third pit stop of the afternoon as he tried to get out of the pit lane ahead of Kimi Antonelli.
Although Hamilton did enter Turn 1 ahead of his Mercedes successor, Antonelli complained to Mercedes that he had been ahead of Hamilton at the Safety Car line as the Ferrari driver exited the pit lane.
Ferrari agreed, and Hamilton had to give third place back to Antonelli.
But his troubles weren’t over as Hamilton was noted for speeding in the pit lane and handed a five-second time penalty. The stewards ruled that he had exceeded the pit lane speed limit of 80 kph by 0.1 kph.
Brundle says that split-second moment at the exit of the pit lane is what cost Hamilton a podium in Budapest.
Although Hamilton continued to hound Antonelli throughout the remaining laps, sticking to his rear wing and taking the chequered flag just eight-tenths behind the Mercedes driver, he dropped to fifth behind Charles Leclerc when his time penalty was applied.
He wrote that while Leclerc finished fourth, it would have been “fifth had Lewis Hamilton in the sister Ferrari not attracted yet another penalty, this time for speeding in the pit lane by 0.1 kph.
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“It turns out Lewis did release the speed limiter a fraction early in order to beat Kimi Antonelli, who was on track, to the all-important Safety Car line which crosses the entire track and which decides who has the right to be in front, the driver exiting the pits, or the driver on track.
“It was declared that Antonelli was there a fraction earlier, and so Hamilton had to yield anyway.
“It was a pivotal moment for the final podium place and therefore the decision that speeding in the pit lane was a potentially competitive advantage was correct, however small the margin.”
Although Hamilton remained second in the drivers’ championship, his deficit to Antonelli increased to 50 points in Budapest.
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Originally published by Planet F1 —
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