The Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying session was anything but short on drama, with Lando Norris unexpectedly taking his first pole for the season. But instead of the papaya driver enjoying the spotlight he got so accustomed to last year, he was robbed of it by seven-time World Champion, Lewis Hamilton.

The Ferrari driver thought he was done enough for the day after putting in a strong performance in qualifying. He even parked his car in the number one spot in parc ferme. But he seems to have celebrated a little too soon, because right after he found out that it is Norris who actually got the pole. As if that was not enough, he got handed a heavy penalty.

He was being handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding McLaren’s Oscar Piastri during the closing stages of Q3. However, Ferrari admitted almost immediately that it was their mistake that Hamilton got the penalty.

“We told him [Piastri was coming], but far too late,” Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur said afterwards. “If there is a mistake, it’s our mistake.”

While Hamilton was finishing his hot lap, Max Verstappen took a spin at the final corner and triggered the yellow flags. As Ferrari dealt with the developing situation, the warning about Piastri’s approaching lap came too late.

After crossing the line, race engineer Carlo Santi radioed, “Piastri pushing… yellow flag, yellow flag.”

“Where’s Piastri?” Hamilton replied. “Behind… yellow flag,” came the response. By then, Hamilton had already taken his normal line into Turn 1.

Vasseur admitted, “In those few seconds, we had a hell of a lot of balls to juggle. The fact is: our warning to Hamilton came too late.”

Ferrari did not contest the penalty and accepted it fully. They even provided telemetry and radio transcripts to confirm that Hamilton acted purely on delayed team guidance. Ultimately, the FIA stewards ruled that Hamilton had “unnecessarily impeded” Piastri during the final moments of Q3. After finishing his slow hot lap, he lifted his foot off the accelerator but remained directly on the main racing line.

Piastri was barreling down the straight behind him on a fast, live “push lap.” As Hamilton’s car was blocking the apex, Piastri’s final qualification attempt was blown away. He had to run wide of the track limits and completely abort his lap. The F1 regulations clearly state that blocking a driver during his fast lap is a serious sporting infraction.

In Hamilton’s defence, he had no idea that Piastri was behind him. The delayed radio call from his crew caused him a serious penalty. McLaren was sitting entirely in his mirror blind spot.

“I was told literally when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea he was coming,” Hamilton said after qualifying. But, despite the setback, Hamilton remained upbeat in a post on Instagram after qualifying.

“Sometimes you just can’t catch a break. Another weekend when I’ve been feeling great throughout all the sessions, but then it just falls apart. To go from being so close to pole to then starting P5 is extremely frustrating.”

It’s easy to see why Hamilton was frustrated. This was his third stewards’ penalty in the last three race weekends, after incidents at Silverstone and Belgium.

Now, Hamilton has dropped from 2nd to 5th on the starting grid because of a three-place penalty. Charles Leclerc moved up to 2nd (P2) to take Hamilton’s front-row spot. But it seems like it was not just Hamilton who had a bitter end to the day.

Kimi Antonelli also received a similar fate

The Mercedes driver, Kimi Antonelli, is in the same boat as Hamilton. He qualified in P4 but also received a 3-place penalty. During the final chaotic moments of Q3, Antonelli failed to slow down under double yellow flags.

It all happened when the Red Bull star Verstappen spun out on the last corner. The yellow flags mean drivers must significantly reduce their speed, abort their lap, and be prepared to stop. The stewards found that he did not back off enough from the place of the incident.

“The yellow flag came while I was entering the corner, so I tried my best to lift,” Antonelli explained. “I did lift but gave up quite a bit of minimum speed compared to before. It was a shame. I don’t think I deserve a penalty.”

He maintained too much speed in a danger zone. After moving 3 spots down, he will now start at P7. But he is still optimistic about his chances for tomorrow’s race. “We’ve got very solid pace in race trim; our chances are still intact,” he said fiercely.

Now all eyes will be on the racetrack on July 26 to see if the penalty will cost Hamilton a cup or if he will redeem himself.