Lewis Hamilton says he “can’t catch a break” after receiving a three-place grid penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton said: "Sometimes you just can't catch a break. Another weekend when I've been feeling great throughout all the sessions, but then it just falls apart. To go from being so close to pole to then starting P5 is extremely frustrating."


F1 drivers have raised concerns that a patchy resurfacing at the Hungaroring has left the track surface feeling like a “lottery” ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, with a “huge bump” at Turn 1 seen as a potential first-lap flashpoint. George Russell said: “They've resurfaced a third of the track and unfortunately they've done a really bad job”, while polesitter Lando Norris described it as “grippy in places and not grippy in others”. Overnight grinding work was carried out after Friday’s briefing, but several drivers said the bumps and inconsistent grip remain.

Nico Hulkenberg said the gap to the cars ahead was “bigger than what we thought and expected” after qualifying 10th for the Hungarian Grand Prix, despite a “trouble-free” session. Hulkenberg said: "Pretty much it was trouble-free. It's nice for once to have a clean one. I feel like we maximised it. Very positive to be in Q3. I'm not so happy about the distance, the gap to P9, and then from P9 actually to P8 and then onwards again. It's bigger than what we thought and expected but I feel we maximised what we had, so that's all we can do."

Kimi Antonelli said Mercedes expected to be behind McLaren and Ferrari in Hungary qualifying because their rivals had brought upgrades while Mercedes have not introduced a downforce update for some time. Antonelli said: "We expected it, also because they all brought upgrades. Ferrari brought a new rear wing, McLaren brought a new floor, and we haven't brought an upgrade for downforce for a long time. So we knew."


Carlos Sainz says his plan to get back to winning races in Formula 1 with Williams has been pushed back by “a year or two” because the team’s 2026 car has fallen short of expectations. Sainz said: "I think there's no secret that my expectations – or, let's say, my timeline for how long it would take me to win a race again and for Williams to be the place to do that – have been delayed by a year or two. It depends on how quickly we manage to bounce back from this situation. It's just that this year's car, for whatever reason – or reasons – has been very underperforming and has fallen very short of our expectations."
Valtteri Bottas says Aston Martin’s major upgrade at the Hungaroring has made the team “really strong” through the corners, but he expects it could be vulnerable at future races on circuits with longer straights. Bottas said: "It's pretty clear they made a big step with the car, especially in sector two where all the corners are - they are really strong. I think against them, this is probably one of their better tracks. I still think on tracks with longer straights, they might be in trouble."



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