Hamilton/Antonelli penalties: Max Verstappen in P4, team principal Mekies sceptical

What a mess after the final practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix: first, a grid penalty for seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton – he blocked Oscar Piastri’s path. As a result, the Briton – who had narrowly missed out on pole position to Lando Norris – was dropped back three places.

Shortly afterwards, another bombshell: a penalty for Kimi Antonelli too – also three places back. The Italian hadn’t eased off the throttle sufficiently under yellow flags following Max Verstappen’s spin.

Verstappen, a two-time Hungarian Grand Prix winner, is one of the beneficiaries, moving up to fourth on the grid. However, this did little to improve the mood of Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies.

Commenting on the turbulent final practice session at the historic Hungaroring circuit, the Frenchman said: “That was a tricky qualifying session for Max and Isack, and in the end we simply didn’t have the pace to keep up with Ferrari and McLaren today.”

“We’ve been struggling since yesterday to give our drivers a well-balanced car, but we didn’t really manage to get the sort of performance that would have allowed us to fight for the top spots in qualifying.”

Topic of the week

From major doubts to a major spectacle: why GP fans have reason to be delighted

Before the start of the season, critical voices dominated, but the World Championship rounds so far have shown that the rule changes are delivering exactly what was hoped for: excitement right up to the final lap.

Vanessa Georgoulas

Read more

TV program

Today

Budapest: Das Rennen Re-Live

FIA Formula One World Championship

26.07.2026 - 17:15

“We can see that the competitiveness of the various teams varies quite a lot from weekend to weekend and from circuit to circuit, depending in part on who has just made improvements to their cars. This also reflects just how close the competition is amongst the top four teams. If you don’t get everything absolutely right, you slip back in a flash.”

“The race is a fresh challenge, and we’ll try to get more out of the car under race conditions than we did in qualifying. I’m expecting a long race, and we anticipate having to deal with extreme tyre wear and very high temperatures.”