Lewis Hamilton finished fifth in the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix after receiving a five-second penalty for exceeding the pit-lane speed limit by just 0.1 km/h. The narrow infringement cost the seven-time world champion another position on a weekend when he believed Ferrari had a car capable of finishing inside the top three—and potentially winning the race.
The sanction added to a difficult run for Lewis Hamilton, who has now accumulated several penalties across the past three race weekends. After the race, the Ferrari driver acknowledged his own recent mistakes and admitted that he must work hard to avoid giving the stewards further opportunities to penalise him.
Lewis Hamilton accepts responsibility after another penalty
“Definitely. I’m enormously grateful to the team because they really did a great job during the first half,” Lewis Hamilton said. “I think the last three races haven’t been great from my side, with a lot of mistakes. The mistake at Silverstone was costly, and obviously there was the previous race as well, and then this weekend.”
“There have been so many penalties over the last three races, so I have to work hard to avoid giving them the opportunity to give me more penalties moving forward.”
His comments followed an already frustrating qualifying session in Budapest. Lewis Hamilton had admitted that remaining positive was becoming difficult after receiving his third penalty in as many race weekends.
Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari should have won in Hungary
Beyond his own mistakes, Lewis Hamilton was also left confused by one of Ferrari’s decisions during the race. He said the team surrendered second position on track without him understanding the reason, contributing to a result that fell short of the potential both Ferrari drivers believed the SF-26 possessed.
“We gave up second position on track and I didn’t understand why,” Lewis Hamilton explained. “There has still been good progress over the course of the season, but I think that this weekend both Charles and I knew we had a car that should have put us in the top three, yet we finished fourth and fifth.”
“So it wasn’t a perfect execution. Was it a missed opportunity for the team? In terms of the result, definitely. We should have won this weekend…”
Ferrari had entered Sunday confident in the competitiveness of its package after its promising Hungarian Grand Prix race-pace data. However, the team was unable to convert that potential into a podium, with Charles Leclerc classified fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth.
0.1 km/h infringement costs Lewis Hamilton fourth place
The stewards confirmed that car number 44 had exceeded the 80 km/h pit-lane speed limit by only 0.1 km/h. Although the margin was minimal, the regulations resulted in a five-second time penalty that dropped Lewis Hamilton another position in the final classification.
“Car 44 exceeded the pit-lane speed limit, which was set at 80 km/h for this event, by 0.1 km/h. The decision is a five-second penalty added to the race time for a breach of Article B1.6.3a.iii of the FIA Formula 1 Regulations,” the stewards explained.
It was another cruel outcome for the seven-time world champion: a tiny infringement produced a significant effect on his final result. The race penalty followed the separate qualifying sanction that had already changed the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix starting grid and left Lewis Hamilton starting fifth.
Lewis Hamilton has made several costly errors during the latest races, although Ferrari has also accepted responsibility for some of the problems affecting his results. The Hungarian Grand Prix therefore ended as another weekend in which the British driver and the team were left feeling they should have achieved considerably more.
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