Johnny Herbert has rejected Lewis Hamilton’s frustration with the Formula 1 stewards following the five-second penalty that affected the Ferrari driver’s result at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The former F1 driver believes Lewis Hamilton cannot blame the officials for an automatic pit-lane speeding sanction and must instead stop making the mistakes that leave him exposed to penalties.
“Every opportunity I give these stewards, they give me a penalty,” Lewis Hamilton said immediately after the race at the Hungaroring. His comments came after he was handed a five-second time penalty for exceeding the pit-lane speed limit, changing the final order in the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix classification.
Lewis Hamilton feels targeted by the F1 stewards
Lewis Hamilton disengaged the pit-lane speed limiter too early and was penalised despite the infringement being extremely small. However, the size of the violation did not require the stewards to make a subjective assessment. The Ferrari driver had committed an offence carrying an automatic penalty under the regulations.
That distinction was central to Johnny Herbert’s response. According to the former Formula 1 driver, Lewis Hamilton was wrong to direct his anger towards the stewards or ask them to adopt a more collaborative approach when dealing with such incidents.
The seven-time world champion’s comments followed a series of recent sanctions that have contributed to his growing frustration with Formula 1’s penalty system.
Johnny Herbert spent many years working as an FIA race steward before leaving the role because his work as an official was considered incompatible with his position as a Formula 1 pundit.
Johnny Herbert explains why the Hungary penalty was automatic
“The relationship between the stewards and the drivers is usually very good,” Johnny Herbert told Casinostugan. “The guidelines for the drivers are well known. It is a relationship that involves the FIA, the stewards and the drivers, and it reflects how the drivers want the stewards to assess certain situations from the point of view of those behind the wheel.
“When something happens on track and, for example, a driver exceeds the speed limit, it does not matter whether it is by half a kilometre per hour: it is a penalty.”
Johnny Herbert stressed that the officials cannot alter their decisions according to their personal opinions of an individual competitor. He argued that the established regulations and penalty guidelines are designed to prevent precisely that kind of subjective treatment.
“You cannot say it was just a bit of bad luck,” he continued. “You cannot, and must not, give a penalty to a driver you perhaps do not like. That is not how it works, because the guidelines are there.
“There are four stewards in the room, working closely together. You cannot ignore the regulations and the guidelines, because that creates many other problems and annoys the drivers. A driver cannot blame the system.”
Herbert defends consistency in Formula 1 penalties
Consistency has frequently been one of the main concerns raised by Formula 1 teams and drivers when discussing the work of the stewards. Johnny Herbert nevertheless believes the officials generally perform that part of their job effectively.
“Consistency in applying penalties is fundamental,” he explained. “And consistency is exactly what the teams and drivers always want. In my opinion, that is what the stewards do very, very well.”
Johnny Herbert therefore placed responsibility for the Hungarian Grand Prix incident entirely on Lewis Hamilton, arguing that the Ferrari driver made a straightforward error of judgement when releasing the limiter.
‘The Lewis of 10 years ago would probably not have done it’
“The speeding penalty was Hamilton’s mistake, full stop,” Johnny Herbert said. “You cannot blame anyone else for that. And it was a judgement he got completely wrong.
“Now, would the Lewis of 10 years ago have done something like that? Probably not. Why he got that judgement completely wrong, I don’t know. At the end of the day, there are no excuses.”
Johnny Herbert also dismissed any suggestion that Lewis Hamilton is being deliberately targeted by the race officials. In his view, the Ferrari driver’s recent penalties are the result of individual errors rather than any bias within the stewarding system.
“It is not that the stewards have anything against Lewis,” he concluded. “It does not work like that. He simply has to stop making the mistakes that put him in that position.”
The latest controversy adds to the scrutiny surrounding the points Lewis Hamilton has lost during Ferrari’s 2026 title challenge, with penalties and execution errors becoming increasingly significant as the championship develops.
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