Lewis Hamilton was dealt a blow in his bid for a record eighth world championship after he was demoted to fifth on the grid for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Hamilton had looked on course to end his 1,099-day wait for a pole position as he led the way into the decisive qualifying laps at the Hungaroring only to be usurped by Lando Norris by just 0.012 seconds.
Hamilton was then served a further setback after he was sanctioned with a three-place grid drop at 1836 local time (1736 BST) – over 90 minutes after the end of qualifying.
The seven-time world champion was deemed guilty of blocking Oscar Piastri at the opening corner as the McLaren driver geared up for a quick lap. Ferrari failed to tell Hamilton about the oncoming Piastri and the mistake could be costly in the 41-year-old’s title tilt.
However in a subsequent twist, championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who Hamilton trails by 45 points, was also served with a three-place grid penalty on the charge of failing to slow sufficiently under yellow flags following Max Verstappen’s last-corner spin.
He will line up from seventh, two places behind Hamilton.
“I was literally told (by the team) when he (Piastri) was at the apex behind me,” said Hamilton prior to the stewards’ verdict. “I didn’t know he was coming. I thought everyone had finished their lap. It wasn’t intentional.”
In a later Instagram post, Hamilton said: “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 P4 is extremely frustrating.
“I always do my best to keep positive — sport is always about the highs and lows, but it’s also in the margins. Every point counts and you have to seize every opportunity.
“After three penalties in three weekends, it’s becoming difficult to hang on to that positivity. Still, I won’t let the setbacks take away from the progress we’ve been making as a team. With the pace we have, I’m hopeful we can get something out of the race tomorrow.”
Hamilton claimed his 104th and last pole at this venue three years ago, and he held an advantage of 0.101 sec prior to the deciding runs in Q3. However, he could not improve on his time to leave the door ajar to the chasing pack.
Charles Leclerc failed to post a better lap but Norris danced around the final corner to secure pole by the smallest of margins.
Norris was among the last drivers to cross the line after Ferrari elected to send both Hamilton and Leclerc out early on.
And a disgruntled Hamilton said: “I don’t know why we went first. That was a shock to me. I definitely wouldn’t have chosen to do it that way. We had the car to be on pole and I did not deliver and that is tough to swallow.”
Hamilton will be able to take some comfort from Antonelli’s punishment which capped a poor afternoon for Mercedes.
George Russell – already 50 points behind Antonelli – qualified only seventh as his title assault threatens to combust.
Leclerc will join Norris on the front row, with Piastri third and Red Bull’s Verstapppen fourth.
Russell’s campaign has been blighted by reliability problems and he stopped on track with another failure – this time a water leak – moments after he completed his last lap.
Russell will be armed with a new power unit on Sunday and benefits from Antonelli’s sanction to move up one place on the grid to sixth.
Mercedes had been on pole at all of the nine previous rounds but they have not excelled at this twisty circuit on the outskirts of Budapest.
The same cannot be said of Norris, who, in his revised McLaren, will hope to follow up the first pole of his championship defence with his first win.
“I am very happy to be here again on pole,” he said. “It’s been a while.”
