Lewis Hamilton Rues Ferrari Call After Latest F1 Penalty

Lewis Hamilton regretted Ferrari’s decision to pit him during the Virtual Safety Car at the 2026 Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix after the move contributed to his third penalty in three races.

Hamilton was running second following Oscar Piastri’s retirement with a gearbox problem. Ferrari then elected to make an additional stop under the VSC, dropping the British driver behind Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli.

Hamilton initially emerged from the pit lane ahead of Antonelli but had to return the position after replays showed that the Mercedes had reached the relevant VSC line at the end of the main straight first.

Read AlsoLando Norris Ends McLaren Drought as Oscar Piastri Rages

The situation became worse when Hamilton was found to have exceeded the pit-lane speed limit by 0.1kph. The stewards issued a five-second penalty that ultimately dropped him from fourth to fifth.

Charles Leclerc inherited fourth after finishing only 0.7 seconds ahead of Hamilton in the final classification once the penalty was applied.

“I definitely do not think we should have taken the stop. The call came literally just before the pit-lane entry, and I did not have time to debate it,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton acknowledged that drivers must trust decisions made by the team in a limited amount of time. However, with hindsight, he believed his tyres remained in sufficiently strong condition to continue without stopping.

“My tyres were totally fine. I was probably going to lose out to Max, but I think I could have kept third at least,” he said.

Hamilton felt the decision indirectly created the opportunity for the pit-lane infringement. Without the additional stop, he believed the penalty that damaged his finishing position could have been avoided.

The Hungarian sanction was Hamilton’s third consecutive five-second penalty. He had previously been punished for a false start at the British Grand Prix and for causing a collision with George Russell on the opening lap in Belgium.

His Budapest weekend had already been affected by a three-place grid penalty. Hamilton originally qualified second but was demoted to fifth after being judged to have impeded Oscar Piastri at the end of Q3.

“The last three races have not been great for me. There have been a lot of mistakes, including one at Silverstone that cost dearly and then another in the following race,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton accepted that the run of penalties must end if he is to avoid losing further championship points. He insisted he would work to reduce mistakes and stop giving the stewards opportunities to issue additional sanctions.

“There have been a lot of penalties in the last three races. I have to work hard not to give them the opportunity to give me any more,” he concluded.