Lewis Hamilton has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Hungarian Grand Prix after the stewards found he impeded Oscar Piastri in qualifying. Hamilton was judged to have been “travelling at a significantly reduced speed on the racing line” into Turn 1 as Piastri approached on a push lap, forcing the McLaren driver to abort. The Ferrari driver drops from second to fifth on the grid, promoting team-mate Charles Leclerc onto the front row alongside poleman Lando Norris. Hamilton said: “I had no idea he was coming.”

Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur said the team was to blame for Lewis Hamilton’s three-place grid penalty in Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying after Hamilton blocked Oscar Piastri at the start of the McLaren driver’s final push lap. Vasseur said: "We told him [Piastri was coming], but far too late. If there is a mistake, it's our mistake."

George Russell said a water leak sprayed his tyres and ruined his final lap in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, before Mercedes instructed him to stop the car. Russell said: "It didn't really affect anything, although there was a water leak and we saw on the tyre temperatures that water was spraying on the tyres during my last lap, so my last lap was rubbish. I think there's maybe a reason for it because it was like a water pistol being sprayed at the tyres, which doesn't necessarily give you more grip."




Liam Lawson says overtaking in the Hungarian Grand Prix will be "basically impossible" as he tries to recover from qualifying 11th. Lawson said: "I just drove really badly in Q2; it is a shame as the car has been very, very good this weekend. We had a good long run, so hopefully we have a fast race car, but it is basically impossible to overtake, so it is going to be tough."

Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin's major upgrade package made it feel like "a different Qualifying" as he reached Q2 for the first time in 2026 at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Alonso said: "It was a different weekend, different Qualifying. We felt that we could fight a little bit more and we could influence the final result of Qualifying if we made a perfect lap or a perfect set-up. That adrenaline when you close the visor and you go into the lap, it was missed in the last few events – we were on the last row of the grid, whatever we were doing on the car. It was nice to go back to that feeling, and hopefully more to come in the next few races."

Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Hungarian Grand Prix after the stewards ruled he did not slow sufficiently for local yellow flags in qualifying at the final corner, where Max Verstappen was stopped in the run-off. Antonelli, who qualified fourth, will now start seventh and also received a penalty point on his licence.





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