BUDAPEST — Lewis Hamilton’s string of disciplinary setbacks continued at the Hungarian Grand Prix after a late pit-lane speeding penalty dropped the Ferrari driver to fifth place.
Having already been hit with a three-place grid drop on Saturday for impeding McLaren’s Oscar Piastri during qualifying—relegating him from P2 to P5—Hamilton fought his way back into podium contention during Sunday’s race.
However, a strategic call to pit under a Virtual Safety Car brought unexpected trouble. Hamilton was clocked exceeding the pit-lane speed limit by just 0.1 km/h, incurring an automatic five-second time penalty from race stewards.
The sanction proved costly, dropping Hamilton behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in the final classification.
The sanction marks Hamilton’s fourth steward penalty across the last three race weekends, following a false-start penalty at Silverstone and a collision infraction at Spa-Francorchamps.
“Every opportunity that I give those stewards, every single time they give me a penalty,” Hamilton remarked after the race, questioning the team’s late pit decision. “We’ve got to trust that there’s a decision that’s being taken, but in hindsight… it just opened the door to the penalty I got at the end.”
