Lewis Hamilton criticises after penalty: “The Ferrari tactics were a mistake”

Lewis Hamilton finished only fifth at the Hungarian Grand Prix because he received a five-second time penalty. The reason: he was driving too fast in the pit lane – by a paltry 0.1 km/h.

Ferrari was under enormous pressure at the decisive moment of this Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc was unable to capitalise on his strong starting position from second on the grid to take the lead; he even dropped back to fifth place. Hamilton, who had been demoted from P2 to P5 following qualifying, therefore moved up one place to fourth after just a few corners.

The up-to-that-point situation: instead of controlling the World Championship race as leaders, Ferrari were already trailing.

Towards the end of the race, a virtual safety car (VSC) period was introduced and Ferrari brought both drivers into the pits. The thinking behind this was that it would result in less time lost than a pit stop under green conditions, with fresh tyres, thus offering a chance to close in on the rivals on soft tyres – and thereby chase down Verstappen in P2.

But the crucial factor in this approach, from Hamilton’s perspective, was to get back on track ahead of Kimi Antonelli during the VSC stop.

It was a huge risk, as Hamilton’s lead over Antonelli stood at just 12 seconds. Knowing that Kimi was closing in, Hamilton did everything he could to get back on the track as quickly as possible. He also knew that the pit stop had been fairly quick, lasting 2.9 seconds.

Hamilton rolled down the pit lane; down to the left, Antonelli was approaching the start-finish straight at breakneck speed. Then Hamilton made the mistake of pressing the button to deactivate the speed limiter just a tiny bit too early.

Ultimately, according to the FIA, the speed limit was only exceeded by 0.1 km/h, but a penalty was nevertheless inevitable.

Hamilton returned to the track and overtook Antonelli on the inside, who immediately complained over the radio: “Well, I think I was ahead.”

Ferrari star Hamilton gave up the position after Turn 1, but by then the damage caused by exceeding the speed limit had already been done.

Hamilton takes the blame and says: “Letting the car jerk off the line too early at Silverstone – my mistake. The collision with Russell at Spa – my mistake. Pressing the button too late in Hungary – my mistake. Ultimately, it was a mistake to try that on the soft tyres. We should have stayed on track.”