Lewis Hamilton Demoted After Impeding Oscar Piastri, Ferrari Front Row Gone
· Yahoo Sports
The stewards have officially handed down their verdict on the Turn 1 Q3 chaos at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and it’s a massive blow to Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton has been slapped with a costly three-place grid penalty for impeding McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, stripping the seven-time world champion of his hard-fought front-row start.
Hamilton had initially qualified second, missing out on pole position to McLaren’s Lando Norris by a razor-thin 0.012 seconds. However, the post-session investigation confirmed that a slow-moving Hamilton had cut across the racing line just as Piastri was starting his final flying lap, forcing the Australian to run wide and abandon his push.
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While Piastri was visibly frustrated over the incident on his onboard camera, Hamilton was quick to point the finger at a critical communication breakdown on the Ferrari pit wall.
Because Hamilton was the first driver out of the pits for the final Q3 runs, he assumed he was the last car on track once his own lap was completed. Speaking during the post-qualifying press conference, Hamilton revealed that his race engineer failed to inform him of Piastri’s rapid approach until it was far too late.
“I was told literally when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea he was coming,” Hamilton explained to the media. “I thought everyone came out behind me. I was the first out, so I thought everyone had finished their lap… Crazy because they’d been clean and obviously it wasn’t intentional”.
May 24, 2026; Montreal, Quebec, CANADA; Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton (44) during the Lenovo Grand Prix Du Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn ImagesRevised Starting Grid for the Hungarian GP
The stewards ultimately ruled that regardless of the radio failure, Hamilton was guilty of unnecessarily impeding another driver.
As confirmed by a recent official update from FIA, Hamilton’s three-place grid drop will relegate him to a P5 start on Sunday, placing him on the third row alongside Max Verstappen.
This penalty triggers a significant reshuffle at the sharp end of the grid. Charles Leclerc has been promoted to P2, salvaging a front-row start for the Scuderia alongside Norris. Meanwhile, Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli moves up to third (though he is still facing a separate investigation for a yellow flag infringement) and Piastri climbs to fourth.