Illegally parked Lewis Hamilton (2nd) faces penalty: “It came as a shock to me”

So close, yet so far! Twelve hundredths of a second separated Lewis Hamilton from his tenth pole position at the Hungaroring in Hungary. With a strong lap time (1:17.219 mins), he had topped the timesheets in the first qualifying session. But in the end, Lando Norris was simply faster at the crucial moment. The seven-time world champion was rather gutted after qualifying in Hungary: he could slip even further down the starting grid. An investigation is underway against him.

At the press conference following qualifying, Lewis Hamilton said, sounding noticeably dejected and in a very quiet voice: “It doesn’t matter in the end. Lando did a good job and drove a good lap. It is what it is.”

“Definitely a shock for me”

Lewis Hamilton was the first to take to the track in the final session, i.e. for the final attempt. A mistake? Hamilton: “I don’t know why we went out first. That was definitely a shock for me.” He then had a bit of a hiccup on the first lap – and things got worse with every lap. Hamilton: “We definitely had the car to be on pole. That’s hard to take.”

Hamilton’s parking blunder

Bizarre: Hamilton parked in the Parc Fermé behind the sign marked number 1. An oversight or a protest? When asked by SPEEDWEEK.com what had happened and whether he’d received the news about Norris’s fast lap too late, he simply replied dryly: “Parked in the wrong place.”

Lewis Hamilton parkte nach der Ungarn-Quali am P1-Schild – dabei war er 2.

Foto: XPB

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Hamilton was surprisingly downcast for a runner-up. Probably because he suspects he could end up even further back on the grid. However, an investigation is still underway against Hamilton; he must appear before the stewards at 6 pm. This is because he got in Oscar Piastri’s way during the final session.

Hamilton commented: “I was told when he was behind me at the apex. I had no idea he was coming up behind me. It’s mad, because it definitely wasn’t intentional.” Whether the officials will accept that as an excuse remains to be seen later this evening…