Lewis Hamilton Calls for Consistency After Hungarian GP Penalty Run

Hamilton’s frustration grows after Hungary penalties

Lewis Hamilton admitted he is dissatisfied with the inconsistency of Formula 1 stewarding decisions after a difficult Hungarian Grand Prix weekend culminated in a fifth-place finish for the Ferrari driver.

Starting on Soft tyres, Hamilton quickly moved into the top three and appeared to have a realistic chance of fighting for the podium. That opportunity weakened during the race, however, when Ferrari called him into the pits under the Virtual Safety Car. Hamilton failed to slow sufficiently in the pit lane on Lap 61 and received a five-second time penalty.

Four penalties across three race weekends

The pit-lane infringement was Hamilton’s second penalty in Hungary and his fourth across the last three race weekends. He had been penalised for a false start at Silverstone and for a collision with former team-mate George Russell at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton accepted responsibility for the latest incident, but argued that the wider pattern had become difficult to ignore.

“The last two races have been pretty bad from my side. Silverstone was my fault,” Hamilton said. He added that drivers had discussed inconsistent decisions over starts in the briefing, arguing that movement before the lights should not automatically lead to a penalty. According to Hamilton, officials agreed to review the matter.

He described the collision with Russell as another costly decision, noting that Russell himself had called it a racing incident. The penalties, Hamilton said, had cost him valuable points.

A reset before the next race

Hamilton also acknowledged that communication contributed to the Hungarian penalty. He said the relevant information arrived only as the car behind was already there, leaving him to accept that he should have checked his mirrors more carefully.

“I’ll work hard to try and come back, try to reset. There’s still lots of positives to take,” he said. “But I’ve got to try and make sure I don’t give them any reason to give me a penalty.”